


Of Life and Love

by lorellamoon



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinathette, F/M, I'm going to hell aren't I, M/M, Multi, OT3 SIN, Slash, Torrington is Nathanael's surname here, don't know where I'm going with this, polyamorous, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-21 04:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 30,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6037825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorellamoon/pseuds/lorellamoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathanael has lived his whole life listening to his arguing parents. Over time it became something that he was simply used. Recently though it's become too much though. Add his crush on Marinette and his new found crush towards Adrien Agreste, along with his new insecurities like having turned in the Evillustrator twice, what is this poor tomato to do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Catalyst

Nathanaël sighed as he gently closed his sketch book and put down his pencil just a as the closing of the door alerted him to someone coming in. He looked up, already expecting the intrusion, to see his twin younger twin siblings standing there, teary eyed and scared. In the background he could hear his parents screaming at each other along his older sister Makenna’s attempt to block them out with American rock, and heavy metal.

"Can we stay here?" Elise, who was eight, asked quietly. She was nervously twirling a strand of blonde hair,pulling and tugging at it. Besides her, Jamie who was her twin brother and mute,looked at him expectantly. He couldn’t exactly say now could he? After all, they were just victims in this.

"Okay," he agreed and handed them the remote control. Elise took and and they settled down on his bed to watch cartoons. After about five minutes, a small pillow hit him on the head. He turned around to Jamie handing the control to him.

"How do you turn on the subtitles?" Elise asked. He took the remote control and fiddled with the sittings for a bit. He had recently received the tv for Christmas and still didn't understand it very much. 

Finally, after a few minutes of mindlessly clicking random options on the menu, he managed to turn them on and handed the control back to them. He then booted up his old laptop and logged onto his chatting site. He saw he had a new messages.

PrincessXOXO: ey what up nath? Why have you been ignoring me?

ArtisticSoul54: Sorry. Hi kiki.

PrincessXOXO: Geez so much expression, so much happiness. And don’t get me started on that apology. If I didn't know better I'd say you were bored of me.

ArtisticSoul54: It's not that. I really am sorry, It's just been a few rough days over here.

PrincessXOXO: The 'rents at it again?

ArtisticSoul54: Yeah. 

PrincessXOXO: And how about your brother?

ArtisticSoul54: he hasn't done much. Just ignores and denies my existence especially now that he moved out. You know he thinks it's all my fault.

PrincessXOXO: that's just stupid. Plus remember, he blames Ashley too.

ArtisticSoul54: He shouldn't be blaming anyone.

PrincessXOXO: Good point. Well except for your mom. I mean your dad doesn't blame you two does he?

ArtisticSoul54: No. At least I don't think so. He's never been very caring or anything. though he really, really doesn’t Ashley though. He barely tolerates her.

PrincessXOXO: Speaking of which, does she still dye her hair?

ArtisticSoul54: yeah. 

PrincessXOXO: that's kinda stupid. Hmm it seems to be a trend in the family. Let me know when the twins do something stupid so I can jot it down.

ArtisticSoul54: depends on what you define as stupid? You have very broad terms.

PrincessXOXO: good point. Hey I gotta go. My mother summons me 

ArtisticSoul54: why do you always make yourself sound like a demon or something

PrincessXOXO: cause I am one ;)

 

PrincessXOXO has logged off

 

Nathanaël shut off his laptop and closed it. The yells had subsided a bit. He got up from his desk and wondered whether it would be worth it to go to the kitchen for a snack. After all, that's where the all the yelling was coming from. He decided to go. Maybe if he walked in, they might stop yelling.

So he left the safety of his room and wandered into the kitchen. 

His mother, a raven haired Italian with olive skin and teal eyes like his, was glaring angrily at his father. Half chopped tomatoes were left forgotten on the side. He was going to just grab a pack of cookie and a juice box when his father, blonde and bronze eyes, made to hit his mother.

"Hey don't touch her!" He yelled. His father turned to him, livid and grabbed onto his shoulder and pushed him back. Nathanaël tried to catch himself on the the kitchen island but stumbled past it and landed on a small decoration table, filled with glass ornaments and picture frames. He looked at his father in shock.

With the exception of his older sister's ridiculously loud music, everything was silent. His mother was wide eyed. And his father didn't seem to believe what he had just done.

"Nathanaël-" he started to say, but he didn't stick around to find out what it was. He ran. Got up and left his house with a slam of the door.


	2. Pain

Despite his thin and unhealthy looking physique, Nathanaël could run, and he could do it very well. He ran through the surprisingly empty streets of Paris on friday afternoon. As he ran he thought he heard someone call out his name, but figured it was just his mother, or perhaps his older sister. He ignored it and just kept running.

Eventually he found himself by a cemetery he knew was very far away from his house. The worst part was, he didn’t even know the way back home from here. Not that he wanted to go home, not with what had just happened.

He sat down at a marble bench and looked up. He frowned as he realized the sky was completely gray. No wonder the streets had been so empty. It was going to rain. That’s when he remembered hearing in the news earlier about thunderstorms all night. Oh what luck of his!

Nathanaël sighed as touched his face and looked at his hand only to see it covered in blood. His face, back and arms were stinging terribly and he was sure he still had a few pieces of glass stuck to him. His shoulder from where his father had grabbed him hurt badly, and his head was throbbing. 

Even with all the problems at home, his father had never hit him. He had always been angry at his mother, but never at him. Sure he didn’t like his sister very much, but she was a wild child, rebellious. Were things really so bad now? Did his father really hate him after all? He was so confused.

Not that he’s my actual father, he thought. He and his older sister, the reason their parents fought so much. They both had a different father, they were the product of an affair his mother had years ago. Considering all this, Nathanaël actually had a pretty good childhood.

Suddenly he felt a drip and looked up. It was starting to rain. Before it started to pour too much, Nathanaël got up and run under a tree. He didn’t need to catch a cold either. The only option he really had at this point was call a taxi and go back home. There was no way he was sleeping on the streets. Despite that, he really didn’t want to go back. He was scared.

He pulled out his phone and opened his contacts. A name caught his eye. Leo. 

No, he thought, it’s a stupid idea and he’ll probably just hang up on me. Despite that he was really considering giving it a try. It was better than going home. Taking in a deep breath, he clicked on the contact before he changed his mind.

It took a few minutes but finally he answered the call.

“What the hell do you want, brat?” Nathanaël sighed. This was so going to fail.

“Sorry to waste your time,” he said. “I’ll just go now-”

“Shut up. You call me and waste my time, like you just pointed out, for nothing? What is it?” asked Leo, clearly annoyed.

“Uhm… well.. you see-”

“Get to it brat!”

“Can I stay with you!” He blurted out. 

“What?” Leo wasn’t even annoyed anymore, that was plain out confusion.

“Dad, he… He hit me, and I just can’t go back there, but I have no where else to go, please!” Nathanaël was nearly in tears by then. 

“He, he hit you?” He asked in a disbelieving voice.

“Y-yeah.” Silence.

“Where are you?” Leo finally said. It was his turn to be surprised. He was speechless until he realized Leo was waiting for an answer.

“Oh uhm, by the cemetary Pere Lachaise” He answered. Leo then hung up. Nathanaël collapsed on the ground and brushed away a few stray tears from his face, covering his sleeve in blood. Just how much was he bleeding?

Time passed and it started to rain heavily. Nathanaël was almost convinced his brother wasn’t going to come for him when he heard a car honking. He looked up to see a dark blue car waiting by the cemetery gates. His brother’s car. 

He quickly ran through the the rain and opened the passenger seat door before sitting in. He shook the water from his hair.

“You look like hell kid.” came his brother’s voice from behind him.

“Thanks, it was just what I was aiming for this morning when I woke up,” he shot back bitterly.

“Sorry.” And then he started driving.

Nathanaël turned to look at his brother, whom he hadn’t seen in nearly a year. To say he was surprised that Leo had actually come to pick him up was an understatement. As children they had never gotten along, mostly because the older boy blamed him and Makenna for their parent’s fighting. 

Leo actually looked a lot like him, the only exception being blonde hair, just like their father. He had their mother’s teal eyes and italian complexion. He was also extremely tall. He turned to window and sighed quietly as Leo drove. What a mess.

 

____________________

Marinette frowned for the umpteenth time and put her pencil down. She had been doing this for the past hour or so, while trying to work on homework. Besides her Tikki also frowned.

“Is something wrong Marinette?” The spotted Kwammi asked in concern. Marinette sighed. 

“I’m worried about Nathanaël. He looked pretty beat up. What if it was an Akuma that did this?”

“I don’t think so, thing have been relatively quiet today. Maybe he just got into a fight?”

“I guess.”

“You can ask him on Monday when you go back to school” Tikki suggested and Marinette nodded.

“You’re right” She said. Still, she couldn’t help but be worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Chapter! Yay!
> 
> So thanks to everyone who left Kudos and comments on the previous chapter, I really appreciate it :)
> 
> As it is, I might be able to upload daily chapters but I'm not sure yet since I just sstarted school and My schedule might change. It also depends on how much attention it gets and so on. 
> 
> Let's see how things turn out, and thanks again.
> 
> With lots of love, LM


	3. Pain

Leo lived pretty far away from him so it took a long time to get there. By then, most of the blood had dried, leaving brown flakes to fall and crumble. It was pretty grows and Nathanaël was pretty sure that by the faces Leo was giving, that latter didn't like how his car was becoming dirty.

Eventually they arrived at his brother’s apartment complex. It looked expensive. He briefly wondered how his brother could afford, Nathanaël having grown up with not that much money. That had always had enough to get by, but not for luxuries or anything like that. He did remember how Leo always boasted as a child that he would grow up, make lots of money, and move into somewhere fancy.

He drove into a covered parking lot and turned off the engine. Then he dug around the backseat, filled with useless junk, until he came back with a pack of baby wipes.

"Here, wipe your face. I don't want anyone thing I'm gonna murder you." 

Nathanaël accepted the baby wipes and did his best to clean his face, trying his best to avoid hurting himself too much. He picked away two pieces of glass embedded there. 

When he was done, Leo got out the car and Nathanaël did the same. Then he followed his brother to an elevator and used a key to call it. When it got there, one of those people in the elevator greeted them before pressing the 7th floor. 

The hallways of the apartment complex was pretty fancy, and he was pretty afraid of braking something. Finally, Leo stopped walking and opened the door to an apartment. It was unlocked, something that his brother had always done. Though with all this security, he didn't think there was much danger there.

Once in the apartment, they both took of their shoes by the door. 

"Sit," Leo said, pointing to a couch before walking off into the hallway. Nathanaël quietly made his way towards it and sat down. The coffee table in front of him was cluttered with stuff. He looked around and noticed that it was the only messy part of the house. Shocking.

"Hmm it's clean." He mumbled.

"Yeah, I pay someone to clean it every week." Leo said, coming back with a neon green bin. On masking tape with a easy scrawl it said "first aid stuff"

"That makes more sense" he commented. Leo shrugged.

The older blonde sat on the couch next to him, pushed some of the clutter off the table, and placed the green bin there.

"Take of your shirts," he said and Nathanaël complied, trying to to wince. Then Leo asked to turn around.

"My gods Nath, what happened?"

"I couldn't catch my balance and fell on that table mom has in the kitchen with all the ornaments and stuff."

"No wonder. Some of these cuts might even need stitches."

"No!" he shouted. Leo had an amused face.

"Don't tell me you’re still afraid of going to the hospital?"

"I'm not afraid of the hospital! I'm afraid of the needles."

"Meh same thing, scaredy cat!" Nathanaël sent him a half hearted glare. 

"Anyways, brace yourself cause I'm gonna have to pretty much poor all of the rubbing alcohol on you to disinfect this." Nathanaël grimaced but nodded anyways.

 

It took a good hour to clean and disinfect all the his injuries. Having all those nasty cuts on his back, and some on his torso, Leo just wrapped him in bandages and gauze there, and on his neck as well. On his shoulder, which was a myriad of purples, blues, greens and yellows, Leo wrapped it tightly and gave him an ice, and if it didn’t get better, Nathanaël would have to go to the hospital to get an x-ray. On his face some scratches were small enough that they would need to be covered, but he had gauze and medical tape over a rather nasty one by his cheekbone.

“There, all done!” Said Leo, throwing everything back into the bin. 

“Would it kill you to be a bit neat?” Nathanaël asked.

“Probably. Cleaning to me is what Cinammon and tomatoes is to you. Speaking of which, you can have anything from the fridge but stay away from the cake on the purple plate and the smoothies. They have ridiculous amounts of cinnamon. I think you have enough common sense to stay away from the ketchup.”

Nathanaël nodded. Growing up he had been taken to the hospital way too many times because of his brothers love of cinnamon. He had even had a reaction to a specific brand of cinnamon flavored gum that for some reason used actual cinnamon instead of fake.

“Good, so Camille will probably be here tomorrow-”

“Who’s Camille?”

“The cleaning lady I pay. May I continue to speak without interruptions now?” He nodded and let Leo keep speaking.

“As I was saying, if the swelling on your shoulder isn’t gone tomorrow, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“What no!”

“Sorry kid, it could be broken or dislocated. You can’t draw if that happens.” He had a good point.

“Fine” he finally said.

“Good. I’ll go pick up your stuff and let them know you’ll be staying here for a while.” Leo said, grabbing his keys and an umbrella. “You have all your school stuff in your bag right?” 

“Yeah”

“Kay, I’ll be back soon. Try not to burn the place down, I’m already in trouble with the landlady for the first time I did that.” Why was Nathanaël not surprised? Leo began to open and he called at him to wait.

“What now brat?”

“Thanks, I mean it” Leo’s face softened and he nodded before shutting the door behind him.

Nathanaël sighed and walked to the kitchen, hungry. He opened the fridge and rolled his eyes when he realized it was all junk food with the exception of foods that didn’t need to be cooked, like drinks, cheese, fruits, bread. He glared at the mango cinnamon smoothies. The freezer was filled with microwavable foods like frozen pizzas and hamburgers. He would bet that the cupboards were filled with instant ramen and more junk food. 

He opened a box of frozen pizza and popped two into the microwave. While he was waiting for that to be done, he sat on the couch and checked his phone. Kiki was messaging him again.

PrincessXOXO: Hey 

PrincessXOXO: Nath!

PrincessXOXO: What could be so important on a friday that you can’t answer me!

ArtisticSoul54: You should really work on your patience.

PrincessXOXO: Finally! So whatcha doing?

ArtisticSoul54: Chatting with you.

PrincessXOXO: Hahahaha [note the sarcasm Nath. it’s thicker than maple syrup]

ArtisticSoul54: I was helping mom with kitchen stuff. chopping tomatoes and carrots and stuff.

PrincessXOXO: That sounds fishy.

ArtisticSoul54: Why?

PrincessXOXO: You’re allergic to tomatoes.

ArtisticSoul54: You know it’s not a very serious allergy. Can you imagine not being able to eat pizza?

PrincessXOXO: I’m Lactose Intolerant remember? And it still sounds fishy to me. What’s up?

ArtisticSoul54: Nothing.

PrincessXOXO: I still don’t believe that.

ArtisticSoul54: Believe what you want then.

ArtisticSoul54 logged off

 

Nathanaël sighed and threw his phone down. He walked over to the kitchen to eat his pizza. Compared to his cinnamon allergy, which was completely deadly, his tomato allergy wasn’t all that bad. He’d get a slight stomach ache, maybe a rash, but that was about it.

Being careful with his shoulder, he sat down and started eating. This was the worst friday ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another chapter. 
> 
> Like always, I want to thank all of you who left kudos and comments, it really means alot to me. So far I'm doing okay in keeping up the schedule to update daily, and even have about three chapters written and ready. Also, I'm a busy person, and just not that good at editing in general so I kinda need a beta reader. Anybody willing to help? 
> 
> Lot's of Love, LM


	4. Fever

Nathanaël was nearly half asleep by the time Leo came back. He also had a slight rash spreading over his neck and arms.

“You couldn’t stay away from the pizza could you?” Leo commented as he dropped a bag full of clothes and his school bag besides the couch. He shrugged and dug around the green bin for some rash ointment. Once he did, he unwrapped the bandages on his neck and starting applying it. Leo took the bandages, which were covered in blood, and threw them out. 

After his neck was covered in ointment and had new bandages on it, he applied some to his arms, wincing as he had to move his hurt shoulder. Once that was done, he put it away and followed his brother down the hallway into the guest room.

“Here you go. Never thought I’d have a need for it.”

“This is probably the only use you’ll find for it,” Nathanaël commented before yawning.

“Oh shut it. Don’t tell me your mr. social.”

“Hmm not really. I have friends and all, I’m just not very buddy, buddy with them.”

“I’d like to say the same thing but that would be lying” Leo commented. “Welp I’ll let you go to sleep. I’ll check your arm tomorrow to see if you need to go to the hospital. If none of your cuts have closed up, I’ll also take you to the hospital. You’ll be on your own in the afternoon though. Have classes.”

“Speaking of which, how come you have so much money if you’re a university student?”

“Youtube, three part time jobs, and I sell my art.” Like Nathanaël, Leo was also an artist. He was in his second year of university for graphic design. Youtube though, was news to him. About two years ago, he knew that Lea had been messing around and posting online, but he didn’t know it had become a serious things.

They talked about random things for about another hour before Nathanaël went to sleep. It was nice, he thought, as he crawled under the covers. The moments he shared with his brother as a child were very rare. As he fell asleep he wished that his childhood had been like that.

_________________

 

The next day, the second he woke up, he knew that there was no way he was getting out of that hospital visit. Mostly because the pain had woken him up at four A.M in the morning. The pain was coming from both his injured shoulder and his back. He also had a fever and felt dizzy, though that very well could’ve been from his allergy. He didn’t find it very though, since it usually never had such a negative effect on him. 

With a sigh, Nathanaël stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom. He lazily turned the light on and turned to look at himself in the mirror. His face had a slight flush to it. He unbuttoned his pyjama shirt and winced. His shoulder was immensely swollen. There was no way it wasn’t broken or dislocated. Especially since he could barely move his arm.

He stumbled into the kitchen and managed to serve himself a glass of water without much use of his right arm. Thankfully he was ambidextrous so he still had the functionality of his dominant arm.

Then he went back to his room. He checked his phone and noticed he had a whole bunch of messages from Kiki. He ignored them. Makenna had also sent him a text.

[Makenna: Hey bro u ok?]

He typed up a response.

[Nathanaël: I’m fine, don’t worry]

[Makenna: u just answered at 4 in the morning. how is that being ok?]

[Nathanaël: This bed is awful. My back is killing me so I haven't had a good night’s sleep.]

It wasn’t too much of a lie. His back was seriously bothering him, but not because of the bed.

[Makenna: kk. also, kiki was asking bout u]

[Nathanaël: You didn’t tell her what happened did you?”

[Makenna: of course not. i just told her it was because mom and dad r getting a divorce]

[Nathanaël: They are?]

[Makenna: its finally being discussed and considered. well i should go back to sleep. im shipping myself out the the academy tomorrow. no use staying in a war zone]

[Nathanaël: Okay, good night. Or good morning I guess.]

[Makenna: Lols. cya]

Nathanaël put down his phone and carefully lay down on his stomach. Makenna, rebellious or not, was a genius and she was attending a private school on a scholarship. The faux raven haired girl could even speak english fluently, albeit with a terrible accent, but if she went to America to study like she wanted to, that would be fixed quickly.

He stayed in bed for about two hours until he couldn’t stand the pain anymore. He checked the time and decided that seven thirty was a decent time to be up and left his room. He opened his brother’s room and gave an amused smile when he saw the blonde hanging half of the bed.  
He walked over to him and poked Leo on the face a few time before he moved to swat it. The movement cause him to fall over.

“What do you want shortstack? it’s too early” he groaned as he pulled the covers down from the bed with him.

“It’s nearly eight. And I’ve been up since four anyways with a fever and unbearable pain,” Said Nathanaël. Leo sat up.

“A fever? Damn that means something got infected.”

“Well it’s either that or the tomatoes,” he mumbled. Leo got up.

“Go get changed, I’ll take you to the hospital.” he said and Nathanaël complied. He pulled on his usually outfit with difficulty and when he finished his arm felt as if it were going to fall off. They left the apartment and went down to the car. With some help from Leo, he managed to put on his seatbelt and they were off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More chapters yay!
> 
> I've been working on this story and planning it an such, so I have really high hopes for it. Like always, thanks for the comments and kudos ^_^
> 
> Lots of Love, LM


	5. Hospital

Because Nathanaël felt like he was on death’s door, and because they weren’t very talkative in general, the ride to the hospital was silent. Because it would take hours for him to be attended at a normal hospital, Leo was taking him to a private one. 

Yesterday when the blonde has stopped by the house to get his stuff, he had also remembered to pick up all his medical documents just in case. The whole car ride, he spent trying to figure out a suitable story for his current situation. He decided not to lie too much, or else he’d just weave an incoherent mess of lies.

The got to the hospital pretty quickly and they made it to the emergency room. It was pretty empty and Nathanaël went to sit by the fish tank. His brother went to sign him in. Twenty minutes one of the nurses came out.

“Torrington, Nathanaël?” They were led inside into an examination room.

“Okay, Dr. Bellrose will now see you” he said and left them there. Nathanaël had informed Leo of the story before hand so there wouldn’t be any contradictions. It took about ten minutes before the doctor came in.

Dr. Bellerose was a petite woman with graying brown hair and a stern look. 

“Hello, I’m Dr. Bellerose, what seems to be the problem?” she asked. Nathanaël took of his shirt and she frowned. She walked closer and looked at his shoulder and the bandages. She gestured to the examination table. He sat on it and she started to unroll the bandages.

“My goodness, what happened to you?” She asked, looking closely at the injuries.

“Some bullies at school,” he lied. “One of them pushed me back and I landed on a table full of glass things”

She didn’t seem to buy it, though honestly it was as close to the truth as he could get.

“I see. And when did this happen?”

“Yesterday afternoon.” She looked mad.

“And why didn’t you come to the hospital yesterday? Two of the lacerations on your back are infected and so is the one on your neck. Do you know how dangerous that is? You’re even getting a rash of sorts.”

“Actually that was from the tomatoes” Nathanaël pointed out. Dr. Bellerose looked at him with a perplexed look on her face. 

“Nath is allergic to tomatoes and he decided it would be a good idea to have some pizza last night”

“I see. That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t come here immediately yesterday.”

“He’s scared of hospitals” Leo supplied. Nathanaël glared at the blonde.

Dr. Bellerose examined him some more, and did a general check up before she finally stopped.

“Okay Mr. Torrington, you’ll need an x-ray, you’ll go get that right away, and after that you’ll come back here for an injection and some stitches.” Nathanaël couldn’t help the groan. “I’ll also prescribe some painkillers and antibiotics.”

He got out of the hospital two hours later. His arm had been sprained and had a small fracture so he would have to wear a sling for the next few weeks. His back and neck had been stitched up and rebandaged. The scratch on his face had also been stitched up. Dr. Bellerose had given him a note for gym and he was under no circumstance supposed to put any strain on his arm. If the fever didn’t go down by tonight, he had to come back. 

They were hungry by the time they left, so they went to a fast food restaurant. Nathanaël sat down at a table while he waited for Leo to come back with his food. He was staring glumly out the window when a familiar voice said his name.

“Nathanaël?” He turned around to see Alya standing there.

“Oh hey Alya” he greeted.

“Damn boy, what happened to you? You look like you got mauled by a grizzly bear.”

“I had an accident of sorts” He said. Alya was going to say something else when a little girl ran up to her.

“Hurry up, we wanna play some more!” She demanded.

“Oops, gotta go, take care Nathanaël!” she said and he waved goodbye with his good arm. Leo arrived a few seconds later.

“Who was that? your girlfriend?” he teased.

“Nope, my love life is about as nonexistent as yours.”

The they sat to eat in silence. Nathanaël briefly wondered how everything would turn out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might have almost forgotten to update today. Ooops.
> 
> Well regardless I still managed to do so, if a little bit late. 
> 
> Like always, thanks to those who commented and left kudos, it means alot to me that people really like this story. 
> 
> Lot's of love, LM


	6. Bad Day

The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday went by faster than he'd have liked. Before he knew it, it was Monday morning and he's was being woken up by Leo with a pillow to the face.

"Ugh... Do I have to go?" asked Nathanaël while sitting up. His shoulder was hurting a lot.

"Yup!" Leo said cheerfully. He briefly wondered how the blonde could be so cheerful early in the morning. "Hurry up so I can drop you off. Work to do, places to be" he said while tapping his watch.

"You don't have to drop me off" Nathanaël said. Honestly these last few days Leo had done more than expected for him. Simply answering the phone call was much more that expected.

"Are you kidding short stack? It'll take you atleast an hour and a half to get from here to the school."

That's when he remembered how far away his brother lived. He nodded.

"Okay, I'll be out in a few minutes." Leo accepted that answer and left peacefully. He quickly changed into his clothes, with somewhat of a struggle, and grabbed his bag. He quickly pulled out four EpiPens and put them in his pocket.

"I'm ready," he said to Leo who was drinking a mango cinnamon smoothie. Nathanaël scowled at the drink.

Like usual, the car ride was silent. Eventually they reached the school and he found himself wishing he didn't have to go.

"I'm not above pushing you out of the car ya know," Leo said with an annoyed huff.

"I know you aren't." Nathanaël said, starring out the window. Still he didn't move. 

"Nathanaël" Leo said in a warning tone.

"Fine!" He said and opened the door. He froze as soon as he swung his legs to the side. Suddenly he found himself tumbling into the pavement. Using his good arm and knee, he managed to catch himself.

"Leo!"

"What, I told you I'd do it. Anyways, gotta run short stack. See ya after school" and with that the blonde leaned over to close the door and sped away. Nathanaël sighed and did his best to try and get up with a single arm. It wasn't working out. Damn you Leo.

"Hey you uh need a hand?"

Nathanaël looked up. Adrien Agrest was standing there offering him help. It wasn't that he didn't like Adrien, he didn't look like such a bad person, but admittedly he was somewhat jealous of the blonde model and Marinette's crush on him. Either way, he wasn't getting up on his own anytime soon.

"I guess" he responded and accepted Adrien's help.

"Thanks"

"No problem. What happened anyways? You look like you got run over by a bus." Perhaps that would have made things easier.

"I landed on a table full of glass things and bent my arm the wrong way." He lied.

"That had to hurt."

"It did"

They continued to walk in silence towards the classroom. That's when he heard someone call his name.

"Nathanaël!" It was Marinette.

"Oh, hi Marinette" he said somewhat shyly.

"Are you okay? I saw you on Friday you were running and you looked pretty beat up." So that had been Marinette calling out to him that day.

"Oh, I kinda fell over a table with glass and stuff and bent my arm the wrong way, and no one was in the house so I went t-to find my brother" he said, half stuttering. Marinette didn't seem to believe him.

"Your brother, that was the guy that pushed you out of the car right?" Adrien asked. Marinette let out a high pitched squeak. She probably hadn't noticed him earlier.

"A-Adrien" she stuttered.

"Yeah, I didn't want to get out, and he had to go so his solution, was to push me."

A very tired and nervous Nathanaël, a very red Marinette, and a very oblivious Adrien then made their way to class.

He spent the whole day at school wallowing in self pity. His arm hurt really bad and he had a headache coming on. He also had a really strong craving for a brownie. 

He passed the whole day drawing random things in his sketch book and answering questions pertaining to his injuries and his fancy ride to school. Why did people have to be so nosy?

They had all just come back from lunch when things went to hell. Math after lunch was never fun, so while the teacher attempted to teach them quadratic equations, Nathanaël sketched a butterfly that had snuck in a while ago. Until metal bars appeared out of nowhere and blocked the windows. 

"What the-"

"I am the Jailer!"

Well wasn't this a lovely Monday?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. So we have an irritable Nath having a bad day. Oh what could go wrong?
> 
> Also as a heads up, I have a soft spot for Chloe. She doesn't get enough love.
> 
>  
> 
> Any ways, thanks to everyone for comments and kudos, it means a lot.
> 
> Lot's of love, LM.


	7. Hidden

Chapter 7

 

So what does one do when an angry Akuma who calls himself the Jailer lock everyone and school and tells them to stay put?

They run out of the class like the apocalypse has started.

Nathanaël sighed. Before he could even blink everyone had run out. Except for Chloé who had tripped over a chair. They both stared at the metal bars blocking the door.

"Let me out!" Chloé demanded stomping her foot.

"Shh!" He said, shushing the blonde girl. "Don't bait it, it's probably distracted by the others. Ladybug and Chat Noir will come soon enough". Well at least he hoped.

Chloé huffed and sat down on one of the chairs. 

"Stupid Akuma..." She mumbled under her breath. Nathanaël was perhaps a bit annoyed. 

"You do realize most of the Akuma are your fault right?" He pointed out, trying to keep his voice in check. Ever since this morning his patience had been waning thin, and it slowly continued to fade.

"It's not my fault they can't take the truth!" She said angrily.

"It's not the truth! It's all just rudeness on your behalf! Just because you think you're so perfect doesn't give you the right to treat people how you do!"

"I treat people how I want to treat them!"

"Why just because you are the mayors daughter?!" Okay admittedly Nathanaël was going in to deep. He generally wasn't one to argue, and much less with Chloé but he was in so much pain and so irritable that he started to take it out on her. "You're such a spoiled brat! Money and power isn't everything you know!"

"Well maybe it's the only thing I have you jerk!" Chloé was very mad herself. "Not everyone has doting parents! You think I wouldn't trade all my stuff for just a little attention from my family!"

Nathanaël blinked. What?

________________

Chloé Bourgeois liked to think she had the world at her disposal. She liked to think she was pretty, perfect, and that she had an amazing life. She wasn't though. 

Call her selfish, but she wanted more than just money. She wanted attention. Perhaps that's why I'm like this, she often thought.

But really, was it too much to ask to at least spend days her birthday with family instead having to spend all night at a huge party.

If she was honest to herself, it was probably why she was like she was. Not only was she calling for attention, she felt that if she had to be miserable, others should be too. It was why she had no friends. She was sure even Sabrina hung around because she was scared of what she'd do.

When Nathanaël started yelling at her though, something she didn't see him capable of doing, she got angry.

"Well maybe it's the only thing I have you jerk! Not everyone has doting parents! You think I wouldn't trade all my stuff for just a little attention from my family!"

Nathanaël looked dazed and Chloé instantly regretted her outburst. What if he went and told everyone! Her image would be ruined!

"What?" He said, blinking. She yelled in frustration. 

"Are you seriously this dense! My father's the goddamn mayor, you think he has time to spend with me! Or my mother who worries so much about her image and going to all those parties!" Oops. She should shut up now. Instead of using it against her though, Nathanaël's expression softened. He sighed.

"I'm, I'm sorry Chloé. I was in a bad mood and took it out on you. I never stopped to think that you didn't have your own problems." He said. That was unexpected. 

Chloé crossed her arms and glared. Technically he had started this whole fight so she had nothing to apologize.

"Still, that doesn't give you the right to take it out on other people either" he continued. I liked him better when he was quiet, she thought.

"If I'm miserable why should anyone else be happy?" She said, knowing her logic was somewhat flawed and immoral.

"You aren't the only one with problems you know. Everyone has problems."

"Oh really, what problems could you possibly have?" She asked condescendingly.

"I- I probably don't get much attention from my parents either. They've been arguing ever since I could remember.." He trailed off and rubbed his shoulder unconsciously, as if remembering something bad. 

She frowned and narrowed her arms at him. She remembered something Sabrina had told her earlier. 

"Hmm Nathanaël's story is kinda weird. He's too skinny to have that much force to hit a table so hard enough to get that injured. Someone probably pushed him or something," she had said. Chloé had ignored her in favor of greeting Adrien as soon as Marinette had tried to talk to him. Despite what some people though, she wasn’t stupid.

“Your parents did that to you.” She pointed out flatly. Nathanaël looked shocked.

“W-what! No!” he tried to deny. 

“Don’t you lie to me-” she began to say. Then the roof collapsed on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I realize that Chloe is probably a bit ooc. Sorry about that. Logically speaking though, we haven't really heard anything about her mother and being Mayor must be busy stuff, so I can't imagine she receives to much attention.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who commented and left kudos, it really means alot.
> 
> Lot's of love, LM


	8. Love at First Touch

Having a roof collapse on you wasn't fun, and it was by miracle that it missed him completely. Perhaps the universe thought he had enough bad luck for once? Regardless, he was still half suffocating with all the dust and debris. 

Besides him, while he couldn't see her, Chloé was coughing and grumbling about something. Good, she probably wasn't that injured or not injured at all. As the dust settled he noticed a gap in the wall. It wasn't that big but they could squeeze their way through.

"Chloé, that gap in the wall!" He pointed out. Quickly they both squeezed through the gap and started running out to the hall. 

All was going well until he tripped. Of course.

Surprisingly enough Chloé actually stopped and turned around as if to help him, but a familiar figure dressed in black suddenly jumped down and ushered her out. 

"Need help?" Asked Chat Noir. Nathanaël nodded. To his surprise he suddenly found himself being carried bridal style by the cat themed superhero. Well then. 

A lot of thoughts were running through his mind at that point, but the one he will always remember and hate himself for was one particular thought.

He has really pretty eyes, Nathanaël thought as he stared at Chat Noir's strangely pretty eyes. He sighed. Now wasn't the time to admire someone's eyes, especially when you've never given them the time of day. Even if said person had an amazing physique from what he could feel- damn it!

"Is something wrong?" Chat Noir asked him and Nathanaël thanked his Italian heritage that his blush wasn't as noticeable on him as on other people.

"N-no everything's fine" he mumbled. Did he mention Chat Noir was very warm?

Eventually they reached a safe vicinity right outside the school. Chat Noir put him down. 

"You'll be alright?" He asked. Nathanaël only trusted himself to nod. And so he did.

"Good" and then the black clad superhero was off, back to helping Ladybug no doubt. Not that he could think about his favorite heroine at the moment.

To be honest, he had no idea how everything ended up being resolved. He was too busy thinking about Chat Noir carrying him. Once it was announced that school would be cancelled for the rest of the day he sighed and pulled out his phone. He sent Leo a message.

[Nathanaël] Hey are you busy?

[Leo] Why?

[Nathanaël] School is suspended for the rest of the day. Akuma attack.

[Leo] you okay?

[Nathanaël] with the exception of needing a shower, just fine.

[Leo] Kay, I'll pick you up in a few.

Nathanaël put away his phone and leaned against a tree. He looked around. There were various paramedics around treating anyone who had gotten hurt. The school itself was back to perfect condition. In the distance he could see Chloé acting dramatic inside an ambulance.

"Nathanaël?" He turned to look at Marinette. 

"Oh hey" he said shyly. 

"You got out okay and everything right?" She asked.

"Yeah, Chat Noir helped me. How about you?" 

"I managed to got out before we all got trapped in."

"That's good" he commented. He was often loss at words when talking to his crush.

"Listen Nathanaël,"

"Huh?"

"If you need to talk to anyone, you can always come to me."

Oh not that again.

"Really I'm okay Marinette, but thanks anyways. Suddenly he heard a honking and turned around. His brother's car.

"Well I have to go." He said giving her a smile and waving goodbye. She gave him a worried smile.

"I hate my life" he said as he climbed in with Leo.

"What happened?" He asked taking a swig of Coca Cola.

"The mayor's daughter somehow found out that one of my parents did this and my friend knows I'm lying."

"Eesh tough luck"

"Yup"

"Anyways I have classes in the afternoon so I'll drop you at the apartment and hope you don't burn the place down."

"Like you once did?"

"It was an accident"

"Sure it was"

The rest of the ride went by in silence. Once he got there, he managed to get up to the apartment by himself. He walked in and pulled out a pack of chocolate cookies. After reading TW ingredients and making sure they didn't contain cinnamon, he pulled out some bottled water and made his way to his room. 

There, he started randomly drawing in his sketchbook, the best he could with only one hand. Half a pack of cookies later, he realized something. He had drawn a whole bunch of pictures of Chat Noir. Of them included a shirtless Chat Noir carrying him.

He sighed and threw the sketch book far away. No, just no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again everybody, Nathanael has a crush on Chat Noir ;)
> 
> I'm actually doing pretty good at keeping up with the daily updates. Yay! When I first started this, I honestly didn't expect it to get that much attention so I'm thankful to everyone who enjoys this story. To be honest I'm still not sure how this story will end, but only time will tell.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who left comments and Kudos, it means alot.
> 
> Lot's of Love, LM


	9. Confusion

Ladybug and Chat Noir had gone on patrol, but she had been distracted all day.

"Something wrong my lady?" Chat asked as she nearly continued to run when they had stopped.

"No its nothing" she said shaking her head. He raised a brow.

"It's just in worried for a friend."

"Oh what happened? Chat asked her, sitting on the edge of the roof. She followed and sat besides him.

"I have no clue, he just showed up to school all beat up and the other day he was also really beat up and running. He looked really scared." She admitted.

"Hmm something similar happened to someone I know. He came to school today with his face all scratched up and a sling and stuff. And you could tell his back was also really hurt. Fell onto a table or something."

"Nathanaël?" Ladybug asked, somewhat shocked. Chat Noir looked surprised.

"You know him?" He asked. 

"Wait, no that's it, he goes to your school and I know him, that's the only thing we need to know" she said. Honestly, it had never occurred to her that they went to the same school.

"Fine. But then you don't believe the table story do you?"

"No, I saw him running away, covered in blood. He was scared." Ladybug said. "Something else happened."

"He always used to walk to school, but now his brother is bringing him. Maybe something happened at home?" Chat suggested. She shrugged.

"I don't know."   
___________

Nathanaël couldn't sleep that night. He wished he knew where his sudden obsession with Chat Noir had come from but he had no idea. It bloomed out of nowhere. One would say love at first sight, except that this wasn't the first time he'd ever seen him. Love at first touch? No, that sounded weird.

It wasn't like he didn't still have that huge crush on Marinette, now he also had one on Chat Noir. Great, just what his life needed, another unreachable crush. Then there was the fact that Chat Noir was a guy.

It wasn't something that he had ever really thought about, his sexuality. To be honest, his first crush ever had been Marinette and now Chat Noir. He could be bisexual but decided not to dwell on it. It didn't matter, in the end Chat Noir would never glance at him. Same way Marinette would never look at him as more than just a friend. He was probably going to end up like Leo, alone in an apartment. Well at least he wouldn't be such a slob.

With a sigh, seeing as he wasn't going to get any sleep, he stood up to get a snack from the kitchen. He was mildly surprised to see some lights turned on. 

"What are you doing? He asked Leo who was sitting on the couch with his laptop in hand. 

"I still suffer insomnia so I decided to get some video editing done." He said while stuffing a cookie in his mouth. With that diet who would be able to sleep?

"What about you?" Leo asked. 

I couldn't sleep because I suddenly have a crush on Chat Noir and that's just weird. Not that he said that out loud.

"What?" Or maybe he did. Oops. Damn his sleep addled brain.

"You have a crush on Chat Noir? Since when? And since when do you even play for that team?"

"I said nothing" he mumbled and continued his journey to the kitchen. He opened a bag of salt and vinegar chips and then walked through the living room. Leo bombarded him with questions.

"Yes I have a weird crush on Chat Noir ever since yesterday he saved, I dunno, and I still happen to like girls" he answered while stealing one of Leo's cookies. It was slapped out of his hands. 

"I threw cinnamon all over these" That explained the burning sensation in his hands. 

"Anyways, that explained those crumpled up drawings of Chat Noir."

"You saw those!" Not even his Italian complexion could cover up his blush.

"Aww look at you, a little tomato."

"Shut up!"

They spent the rest of the night binge eating and watching tv. By morning, neither wanted to leave.

"Technically, you shouldn't drive while half asleep." Nathanaël said while they both stared at the car.

"Just get in" Leo said with a yawn. They both reluctantly got in and put on their seatbelts.

"You should really go get yourself an energy drink Nathanaël pointed out as they arrived at the school.

"Meh I'll just take a nap here and then drive" Leo decided. Nathanaël climbed out of the car and walked through the classroom. Once he walked in, he realized a few things. Not only was Marinette giving him a worried look, so was Adrien. Weird. Then there was Chloé who was staring at him with sharp eyes and a glare.

This was going to be a difficult day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Pov changes. dun dun dun.
> 
> Anyways, thanks to all who commented and left kudos, it means alot to me. 
> 
> Lot's of Love, LM


	10. Anaphylactic Shock

He managed to avoid anyone and everyone until lunch. Just as he was going to run out and find an invisible corner to hide out, Chloé came up to him with a flat look on her face, grabbed his good arm and dragged him out, Sabrina following closely behind.

"Hey- wha-"

"Shut up, we're going to eat lunch" Chloé said. Nathanaël decided to shut up for now and let himself be dragged for now. Chloé had some very sensitive information with her right now and he did not want to test her. They went outside and climbed into her fancy car. The driver took them back to The Palace. Okay then.

He got out of the car and followed her and Sabrina up to what looked like her room. 

"Okay our food should come up soon she said. The she sat down and stared at him. Nathanaël stared back awkwardly.

"So... Why am I here?" He asked.

"Because we never finished having our conversation the other day," she stated matter of factly. 

"There's nothing to talk about, nothing happened-"

"I thought I told you not to lie to me. Obviously you are too small to cause much damage like a broken elbow just by landing on a table. A few scratches sure, but not that many injuries. You were thrown against it. I checked your medical files, it said you had a nasty bruise there. Not just swollen, it was bruised meaning someone grabbed your shoulder forcefully"

Either Chloé was Nancy Drew or She had help from Sabrina. He was honestly surprised at her deductive reasoning though.

"I won't tell anyone" Chloé finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"Huh?"

"It's not my business so I won't tell. Now let's eat lunch."

And that was that.

_______________ 

Over the course of the next week Chloé actively sought him out. He found himself going to lunch with her and Sabrina, something he found very weird. The rest of the class seemed to find it weird as well but they didn't say anything. It seemed to worry Marinette a lot more as well. 

Adrien walked up to him in between classes.

"Hey Nathanaël"

"Yeah?" He asked, looking down at his untied laces. He should really tie those up before an accident happened.

"I wanted to talk to you about Chloé"

"Oh? What is it?"

"She's my friends and all but I know how she can get sometimes so if she's doing anything to make you feel bad or anything but you don't like..."

"It's okay. I know she can be a bit high strung sometimes but honestly, for some reason I feel as if she's trying to genuinely be my friend, as weird as it sounds."

"Well anyways if you ever need any help let me know." He said giving him a smile. And before you ask, he did not find it cute. Not at all.

"Thanks" he said with a small smile. The he continued on to his next class.

Two days ago he had gone back to the hospital and they told him he'd need the sling for two more weeks and that after that he'd need about two months of rehabilitation therapy. He sighed. The only good thing that come out of that was that he could skip gym for next three to four months.

He walked into the class before lunch and sat down at his usual seat. He took out his sketch book and began sketching. He honestly didn't pay too much attention in class. Normally he just borrowed the notes from someone else and studied at home. It made things easier. Today was no different.

By the time class was over he was bored out of his mind. As it had become usual, he was going to have lunch with Chloé and Sabrina because the former wouldn't have it any other way.

He was putting his stuff away when Marinette approached him. She had a muffin on a napkin. She held it out to him.

"Hey do you want a muffin?" she asked. "You've been a bit down ever since your accident so I thought it might cheer you up." The muffin had a smiley face on.

"Hum sure thanks" he mumbled a small blush spreading on his face. Thankfully his crush didn't seem to notice. He took a bite. It was good. It had chocolate and a hint of something spicy he couldn't quite name.

"Wow this is really good!" He said with a smile. 

"Thanks, I made it." She said. "I also felt kinda bad because I know I've been pushing you about the accident and stuff. I was just worried, but I figure that if you really don't want to say anything it's your choice." She was basically admitting that she didn't believe his story at all. He took another bite of the muffin and frowned. His eyes felt watery and they stung. 

"It's okay" he answered. He frowned. His head was starting to hurt and his throat was burning. He let out a cough. 

"Are you okay Nathanaël?" Marinette asked looking concerned against. He didn't think so. He remembered that spicy taste he couldn't name earlier. 

"Uhm Marinette?" He managed to choke out. His lungs were burning and it was beginning to get difficult to breathe.

"Yeah? What is it? Are you really okay because you don't look so good, your neck and your hands are getting really red" she pointed worriedly. He let out another cough.

"Does this muffin have cinnamon?" Some more coughing. He started digging around his pocket despite the stinging I his arm.

"Yeah it did, but does that matter right now you don't look very good."

"Oh I know exactly what I have" he half croaked as he pulled out his EpiPens. "I-I'm going into anaphylactic shock" he could hold it properly. This wasn't good.

"Ma-Marinette. Please stab both of these into my thigh muscle. He said holding them out. He coughed. "You can let go once you hear a click" stupid allergies.

She didn't waste anytime and did as she was told. By now she had attracted the attention of a teacher. Nathanaël held back a wince as he felt the pinch of the EpiPens. He really didn't feel good.

He briefly heard someone yell for the nurse before he blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Nath. Anaphylactic Shock is by no means fun. And I should know seeing as I based his allergy off my own cinnamon allergy. 
> 
> Anyways thanks for all the comments and Kudos, It means a lot for me.
> 
> Lot's of Love, LM


	11. Dear Mother

It took Nathanaël a few minutes to remember what had happened before he blacked out. He blearily a opened his eyes only to spot his mother standing over him.

"Nath sweetheart you’re awake!"

Wait, his mom?!

"What are you doing here?!" He asked. He was in no way ready to face his mother right now.

"The school called after they brought you up to the nurse's office. I came to pick you up and take you back home." She said and he resisted to knock his head against the wall. 

"I'm staying with Leo" he pointed out.

"I love your brother and all but he's a slob and he can't take care of you properly. Plus he has that weird obsession with cinnamon, an accident could happen at any time" she pointed out. Nathanaël frowned. He was about to argue when one Chloé Bourgeois came bursting through the door. He had never been happier.

"Nathanaël-"

"Hey mom could let me and Chloé talk alone please" he asked. His mother stood there for a few seconds before walking out.

"Are you okay?" She asked. But didn't let him answer. "Stupid Marinette can't even be careful, look at what she did, you could have died or-"

"Chloé"

"What" she didn't like being interrupted.

"Yes I'm fine, and don't blame Marinette, it's not her fault."

"Hmph I pretty sure it is"

"Yes well anyways could you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Could you call my brother and tell him what happened and that my mom is here and making me go home with her." She nodded and he gave her Leo's phone number. She left to make the call and his mother came back in.

"Ready to go?" She asked cheerfully.

"I just woke up, no. Give me a while." He answered coldly. 

"Fine, I'll be outside talking to the staff to see what we can do about this problem."

"Problem?" 

"Yes about the girl who gave you that muffin. We can't just let her get away with this!"

"No, Marinette is a friend who's noticed that I'm not doing so well. She made me that muffin to try and make me feel better! You aren't gonna get her in trouble for an accident!"

"Well she should have minded her own business-"

"Well at least she cares about me more than you!" And it was the truth. He had known Marinette for a few years now and she was a good friend even if the didn't talk much. 

"Excuse you, I've too much for you to speak to me this way!"

"What? Please let me know? You can't even stay faithful to your own husband. I wouldn't be surprised if Makenna's father was different too"

"Don't you question my morals-"

"The ones you obviously don't have?!" This was years worth of pent up resentment towards his mother. She slapped him just at the door opened. 

Nathanaël held back the tears caused by the pain. Leo, Adrien, Chloé and Sabrina were standing there. 

"Get out!" Leo all but yelled. 

"You can't kick me-"

"I can and I will. If you don't leave right now I will file a lawsuit against you for child abuse" he said darkly. Leo was angry, very angry. Chloé didn't look too pleased either but Sabrina and Adrien were just standing there like wallflowers. It was an awkward situation no matter how you looked at it. His mother stalked off.

The problem with Anastasia Torrington was that she cared more about her image than anything else. She tried to care about her children but barely was it ever genuine. She was a flighty person and did not like being tied down by children.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked?

"Meh, I've had worse. Like that while ago with my allergy" he pointed out. 

"Yeah well at least she's gone," Chloé said in an obnoxious tone. "I'll go make sure they take her off your emergency contact list" and the she was gone, with Sabrina following closely behind. 

"I'll go get your stuff" Leo said and then he was gone. Now it was just him and Adrien who was standing awkwardly there.

"Hey" he said to the blonde model.

"Oh hey I came to see how you were and stuff."

"Well I'm still alive I guess." He said. "I guess I've just been having a bit of bad luck lately."

"Yeah that sucks. Is your mother always like this?"

"Kinda. She's not mother material. This is the first time she's hit me though. I know that's what your asking. It's what you and Marinette have been worried about isn't it?" He asked.

Adrien let out a nod.

"I didn't realize it at first but your story doesn't make much sense."

"Marinette never believed it from the start. Then there's Chloé who figured it out pretty quickly."

"Really?" Adrien asked skeptically.

"I think she had some help from Sabrina." He admitted.

"So it was your dad then?"

"Pretty much. I mean it's the first time he's ever done anything to me. It was just the shoulder, though I probably did hurt it with the impact on that table."

"And he hasn't hit you since then?"

"To be honest, I haven't seen him since then. I don't know if Marinette told you, but she actually saw me running away from my house when it happened. Its probably the reason she never beloved my story." Adrien suddenly looked confused.

"Marinette told you that?"

"Yeah is something wrong?" Nathanaël asked.

"Uh, no nothing" Adrien said and smiled.

"So you're staying with your brother now then?"

"Yeah. Leo's the one who dragged me to the hospital and stuff." 

"Well as long as you're safe." Adrien said. Nathanaël scoffed. 

"Don't be fooled, Leo is obsessed with cinnamon. Whoever I want to eat something I gotta read the ingredients."

"That can't be very fun" 

"Meh I get used to it" Nathanaël said with a smile. He didn't know Adrien very well, and hadn't really gotten to know him, but it was nice to talk to him. Or have long conversations with him. Maybe what he needed was attention. Hmm perhaps he wasn't that different from Chloé.

_________________

Admittedly, Adrien could be a bit dense sometimes. He was a bit slow and sometimes didn't understand things. When irrefutable evidence about something was put in front of him though, he couldn't ignore it. 

He sighed and tapped his pencil against his desk. Could shy and sweet Marinette really be Ladybug the spotted heroine he loved?

Then there was another issue. Nathanaël. 

It was nothing new to him or his father that he liked girls and boys. Despite not getting out much as a child, it was something he had discovered and despite the fact that his father had been against it at first, he had come to accept. His father had also told him once that he could marry whoever it was he wished when he grew up, given of course they were a reasons person. That was something that surprised Adrien.

Even though his mother was gone and he had distanced himself, his father still tried once in a while.

He sighed again. Nathanaël.

He had always found the boy somewhat cute, but recently he had been crushing on the redheaded boy. He was honestly confused and had no idea what to do. 

He let his head drop on the desk. Life was hard sometimes.


	12. Chapter 12

One month went by without a single problem. 

Nathanaël recovered from his allergic reaction, and the sling on his arm was removed. He now had to go to physical therapy once a week, which Leo took him to every Friday.

While it had been difficult at first, he had patched things up with Marinette. She had felt so bad for the allergy, she started avoiding him. Chloé had surprisingly been the once to help him with it.

He now hung out with Chloé and Sabrina at lunch time. Though a bit enteric and extremely obnoxious, he had begun to see a good side in Chloé no matter how deeply buried it was. Sometimes he even hung out with them after school too. Like he was now. 

"Hey Nath!" The blonde girl called out. "Where should we put the townhall?" She asked. 

Chloé had recently bought an expensive 'build your own world' sent where she and Sabrina were currently setting it up on a table. Sabrina had gotten the idea of instead of cosplaying as super heroes, as the two had been doing previously, they could make up their own super heroes and city. Nathanaël had been tasked with the character designs. It was fun. 

"In the center. Maybe some tall buildings around it and the villains base too. Villains would chose the most advantageous base, which makes the hero stronger when they defeat the villain" he said. Chloé nodded with determination and continued with the building. 

Chloe's room wasn't silent as she had all sorts of pop music blasting out of her speakers. Japanese, American, Spanish, it was all there. He was up on Chloe's bed with several pieces of paper and pencils scattered all over. 

Sabrina was typing up their universe information and occasionally printing it out. Admittedly Nathanaël was happy. Growing up he had never experienced something like this, not having many friends.

"So Nath." Chloé said casually while putting up a few more buildings. He frowned. That was way too casual.

"Yes?" He asked warily.

"You have a crush on Adrien." She stated. It wasn't a question, it was just a fact. He would have tried to deny but he blushed so much he was sure Chloé noticed it. Especially when he heard her mumble "...he really does look like a tomato" damn you Leo!

"Y-yeah" he stuttered. He really didn't like the fact that it was pointed out. He hoped this didn't ruin his newfound friendship with Chloé.

"I see. So does that mean your ridiculous crush towards Marinette is finally over?" She asked in a haughty tone. Nathanaël frowned. He honestly didn't think the blonde and the raven haired girl would ever get along. They never had a single good thing to say about the other.

"No, it's still there." He admitted reluctantly. "I like them both now" all three of them actually, if you included Chat Noir.

His crush on Adrien had actually been a recent thing. The blonde model had started to talk to him more recently and they would hang out. Adrien even helped him out when he needed it due to his injury. How could he not like him? 

"You know, Adrien is bisexual" she said, finally facing him.

"Uh-what?" He said dumbly. Not understanding. Then the meaning of those words finally processed and his eyes widened. 

"What really!" She nodded.

"I mean it's not well known because not everyone is so accepting of it but yeah he is."

"Don't you like Adrien though?"

"Like a brother. He needs attention too you know, and I give it to him.  
He needs to feel loved." She said with a sad smile and then glanced as if to make sure Sabrina hadn't heard. If the orange haired girl had, she didn't show it.

"Say Chloé?"

"Yes?"

"Would you help me out if I wanted to date Adrien?"

She gave a scary like smile.

"I'd be delighted!"

For all the good Chloé had in her, sometimes she could be terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short but I decided it would do well as a stand alone.
> 
> Also I've decided that I will continue updating daily on weekdays, but take a break on the weekends since I have homework and such.


	13. Date

Nathanaël sat nervously in the car the next day.

"Short stack, I'm still not above throwing you out." Leo said. 

"Fine, I'm out, I'm out." He said and got out of the car. Then he just stood there for about five minutes after Leo left. 

"Hey are you okay?" It was Adrien.

"Uhm yeah, j-just fine" he stuttered slightly. It was reminiscent of Marinette. "Me just not feeling up to going to school."

"Oh?" He asked with concern.

"Don't worry," he said with a smile. "Chloé just has one of her weird schemes going on. She's an unstoppable hurricane when she's like that." Adrien nodded.

"I can attest to that," he joked, more at ease. He briefly wondered if trying out this crazy idea was such a good thing. What if Adrien didn't like him that and he ruined their newfound friendship. He'd be miserable for the rest of his life if that happened.

"Nathanaël?"

"Huh?"

"You spaced out for a second there." Adrien's concerned look was back in place.

"Sorry lost in thought. What were you saying?"

"I was asking if you wanted to go go to the arcade tomorrow. I have some free time and we don't really hang outside of school."

Yes, yes and triple chocolate cherry yes! His response was a bit more composed.

"Yeah sure, what time?"

"After school. We can walk there, the go have lunch."

"Sure, though I can't say I'm the best at video games." Nathanaël warned. He was extremely excited though. This crush was getting a bit out of hand. 

"Nah, no worries. The point is to have fun right?" Nathanaël could have been imagining it, but did Adrien look excited? He doesn't get out much, maybe he's just excited to hang out, he thought, not wanting to read to much into it.

They walked into the classroom and went their separate ways. Chloé, with Sabrina close behind walked up to him, with questions flashing through her eyes. She could read him better than he liked. 

"So?" She asked.

"He wants to hang out tomorrow." He whispered to her, careful that no one else overheard. Chloé clapped her hands together.

"That's great!" She said happily. "We can get started sooner than we thought!" 

"Get started with what?" Nathanaël turned his head to the voice so fast that he nearly gave himself whiplash. It was Alya, standing there with Marinette. His still crush. Why was life so difficult?

"None of your business" Chloé answered obnoxiously, narrowing her eyes. "Now leave, were busy talking"

"Chloé-" he started, but Marinette beat him.

"It's not like we're here to see your annoying face. We need to talk to Nathanaël." He felt stuck in the middle of war zone.

"Chloé, Marinette. Can BOTH of you please stop being rude. We're in class and the teacher is almost here." He pointed out. 

"She started it!" Chloé huffed in annoyance.

"Doesn't mean you have to  
Continue it Chlo." He said softly. Then he turned to Marinette and Alya. 

"So what did you need guys?" Aly took the initiative and began to talk.

"Well we heard-" she didn't get to finish. The teacher walked in at that moment and shooed everyone to their seats. Though somewhat curious, he quickly forgot about it in his excitement for tomorrow. He'd have to take care that no one saw his sketch book today.

___________

Adrien was excited. He had really grown to like Nathanaël over time and he was honestly considering asking him out. He was still going to take this slowly though. After all, for all he knew, Nathanaël might be completely 101 straight. Tomorrow was going simply be the two of them hanging out at the arcade and then going for lunch. There was no way he was going to ruin their friendship.

"Hey kid! Stop daydreaming and get me some cheese!" Plagg called out and he sighed. Sometimes this kwami was a bit too high maintenances. "Can't you go without cheese for at least a few seconds?" He rebutted, slightly annoyed at having to get up. 

He still had some homework he had to get done before going to patrol with Ladybug. That is, if he wanted to go hangout with Nathanaël.

"What you're suggesting is completely impossible." Plagg said seriously. He walked down to the kitchen. On the way down he wondered if he should tell Ladybug about his not-date-but-date-in-his-imagination. He wasn't completely over the red spotted heroine, and he was still on with his theory about she and and Marinette being the same person, but before anything else, she was his best friend. Maybe she could offer some advice. She didn't seem like those narrow minded people who couldn't let go of their homophobia.

He walked back up and gave Plagg his cheese before he continued on his homework. Eventually he managed to finish it all and made his way to meet Ladybug.

Their patrol went smoothly and they went to take a break by the Eiffel Tower. Ladybug noticed his jitters and questioned him about it.

"Well I kinda asked someone who I really like out to hang out as friends. I'm kinda excited and I hope it'll turn out okay." He admitted.

"Aw, don't worry kitty. I'm sure it'll turn out okay. Before you know it, you'll be telling me all about your new girlfriend" she reassured. He didn't think so. He corrected her.

"Boyfriend." Well that was that.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Uhm- the person I like is a guy" he mumbled this quietly. Ladybug still heard him. He purposely looked away. He knew they were partners and best friends but he was still scared.

"Oh your gay?" She asked. Well she didn't seem to be making a big deal of it.

"Uh no, bisexual." He said nervously. There was silence for a few seconds before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Ladybug looking at him.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, you know your still my best friend and partner no matter what." She said softly, her voice reassuring. "I'm glad you trusted me enough to let me know." He hugged her tightly, slightly startling her. Ladybug's acceptance was about as important to him as his dad's had been.

"Thanks Ladybug." He said sincerely.

"No problem Kitty" she answered and hugged him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just like all this fluff going on here :) not to worry, we'll have some action soon enough, and I'm still anxiously awaiting the moment I can finally get the ot3 together.
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos, it means a lot.
> 
>  
> 
> Lots of Love, LM


	14. Ruined

Nathanaël had been jittery all day. Today was his kinda-kinda not date with Adrien. He couldn't help but be excited and nervous at the same time.

"Nathanaël please stop bouncing in place it's annoying." Chloé said, staring at him. He stopped.

"Good" she said. They were currently at her house for lunch. 

"Try not to do that on your date, you don't want to make it too obvious yet" she pointed out. Nathanaël nodded.

"Okay, so remember, Adrien really likes sweets so you can suggest to go to a bakery, just remember to avoid the cinnamon. Also try to actually have fun. Adrien's not much to get out so make this nice, and let him know your having fun!" She commanded. Nathanaël nodded again.

"Good! We're ready! Wait, before we leave didn't you want to tear out of your sketchbook all those drawings you made of Adrien.

"Uhm maybe I should leave the whole thing here" he said. It was filled with the brim to sketches of Adrien by now. And he had just bought it a week and a half ago.

"Fine, then let's get back!"

 

Chloé spent the rest of they day whispering at him to stop bouncing. Oops

__________

"Huh you want me to ask Adrien if you two can go with him and Nathanaël?" Nino asked Alya and Marinette. They nodded. He shook his head.

"I'd be all for it, but Adrien really wanted this to be all him and Nathanaël. Just the two hanging out" he told them. He didn't mention the fact that it was supposed to be a date between them. 

"Wait so you aren't going?" Alya asked.

"Nope."

"Why would Adrien go hang out with Nathanaël and not you?" She asked. Because it's a date. But he didn't say that out loud. 

"Actually I'm busy today, and you know how it's been with Nathanaël, Adrien wants him to be a bit distracted, with all his family problems and what not."

"Family problem?" It was Marinette who asked.

"Yeah, didn't you hear? His mother came to school the day of his allergic reaction and she and his older brother had an argument in the hallway about who had custody over Nath. Chloé also got in the middle of it." He informed them. He had been there when it happened. They didn't breach either topic anymore and they stayed chatting for a while. The the bell rung and he saw Adrien leaving. He gave the blonde a thumbs up.

_____________

Adrien nervously waiting at the front of the school for Nathanaël. There were a million thoughts running through his mind at the moment. What if Nathanaël decided not to show up? 

His fears were somewhat quenched when he saw the redheaded boy approach him. He smiled.

"Hey Nath! Ready to go?"

"Yeah" he said softly, but he had a smile on his face. The started walking toward the arcade, chatting aimlessly about school and stuff. With Nathanaël, talking was always easy.

"So how's PT?" He asked. Nathanaël shrugged. 

"Bearable. They use electro pulse therapy which stings but it's not completely painful. It is annoying though" Nathanaël said. 

"Thank god I've never broken a bone then." He said. 

"It isn't fun" he affirmed. "So how good are you at video games? Or am I going to make a complete fool of myself alone?"

"I'm somewhat decent. You can't be that bad?"

"I awful at them" Nathanaël said. "When we were little, Leo who's half blind without his glasses, could beat even if he wasn't wearing them. I'm that bad" he said with a laugh.

"Well then it's up to me to tech then" Adrien said as they reached the arcade. And they went in to their date but not date.

________________

Nathanaël was in an awful mood.

His date-but-not-date had started well enough. He and Adrien had actually been enjoying themselves. Then Alya and Marinette showed up. Somehow the reporter had convinced the reluctant looking Adrien to play a few games. He looked at him apologetically as he went to start the game with Marinette.

"I hope you don't mind-" Alya started to say. He didn't let her finish. 

"Actually I do mind!" He said angrily before stalking out of the arcade.

He was angry at Alya for convincing Adrien to play with Marinette, angry at Marinette for her crush on Adrien and most of all mad at Adrien for leaving him. He didn't notice the butterfly until it was too late.

The Evillustrator was back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And he's back! While I'm obviously focusing on Adrien x Nathanaël first, worry not, I'm going to be adding some Marinette x Nathanaël soon. Adrien x Marinette won't be for while though.
> 
> Also anyone notice Nathanaël hasn't talked to KiKi in a while? Anyone curiosity to who Kiki is? Worry not that's all coming soon.
> 
> Also at the rate I'm writing, this story is going to be having more than twenty or thirty chapters. I feel proud so far of writing this.
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos it means a lot.
> 
> Lots of Love, LM


	15. Perfect

Okay just one game, Adrien thought to himself as he and Marinette walked off. If he was honest, it was kind of upsetting that he had been interrupted but Alya wouldn't take no for an answer. 

Finally, they found a game and got ready t play when he heard a scream.

"Alya!" Marinette said from behind him and started running in the direction of the scream. Adrien followed. Imagine his shock when he saw the Evillustrator. 

"Nathanaël?!" He said, surprised. The Evillustrator ignored him as he attacked Alya. He quickly ran behind a building. Adrien transformed.

"What could have gotten into him?" He wondered out loud as he leaped up on a building. 

"Hey Evillustrator!" He called out from the top of the building, waving. The villain turned to look at him and using his staff, he attacked . He had to distract him so Alya could run.

The Evillustrator seemed to freeze for a minute before he got drawing on his tablet. Suddenly there were birds flying towards him as if to stab him. He barely dogged them. 

"That all you can do?" He asked mockingly. "Let's see how well you can catch me!" And then he was running. Out of all the Akuma, Nathanaël had the worst power ever. He could literally do anything by drawing it. He had to be careful.

Eventually they made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower. He drew a goat water gun and sprayed it with him. He let out a hiss. He hated water. He went shooting back. 

"Out of the way you stupid cat!" The Evillustrator said. Chat Noir struggled to hang on.

"What are you going to do?" Chat asked, trying to buy some time. He was also trying to figure out a way to keep himself on the tower without slipping to of.

"She ruined my date! If I erase her she won't be able to ruin it!" 

Okay admittedly he should have paid more attention to the part about erasing Alya. But he didn't.

"Date?" He repeated dumbly, finally gripped himself on the edge of the tower. Nathanaël had considered it a date? That made him feel happy.

The Evillustrator looked embarrassed. He moved to attack him.

"Wait!" He said holding his hands up in surrender. 

"What!"

"I mean if you were on a date, shouldn't you be on it rather than wasting time here?" Chat asked. 

"It's too late" the Evillustrator grumbled. "She ruined it! It wasn't even much of a date in the first place. I'm sure he didn't even think of it as a date." Chat Noir frowned. He suddenly felt like the worst person on earth.

"But you were obviously having fun before Alya ruined it?"

"I guess so." 

"So why don't you go back to your date without being a villain. You can let ladybug take the Akuma and we can stop fighting. I mean Alya probably didn't even know it was a date."

It was a big risk to try and convince him to willingly give up but he knew Nathanaël was the only one to blatantly ignore Hawkmoth. It might just work."

"Yeah but Adrien doesn't even consider it a date. He probably wouldn't even want to keep hanging out after this." Chat frowned again. That wasn't true.

"Listen, your not a bad person. I'm sure Adrien would understand if you just explain it to him." 

"You honestly think so?" The Evillustrator asked. Chat nodded. Suddenly somebody landed. It was ladybug.

"Hello my lady!" The Evillustrator stiffened. 

"Don't worry. It'll be fine." He said. Ladybug was confused.

"What's going on here?" She asked. Somewhat sure she was Marinette, he did something a little mean.

"We solved the problem and everything. I've gotta admit your a bit late Bugaboo. All that was wrong was that some rude girls interrupted his date." He shook his head and sighed.

"Some people just have no manners" he said. Ladybug visibly flinched. 

"Is something wrong?"

"N-no nothing!" She said a bit too quickly. "Uhm so can I purify the Akuma?" She asked. The Evillustrator handed her the object with the Akuma.

Chat Noir smiled. Now he had a date to get back to.

_____________

Nathanaël nervously waited by the arcade. He was waiting for Adrien who probably wouldn't show up. He sighed.

He hadn't mean to turn into a villain again. It had just sort of happened. Now he had probably ruined any chance he had with Adrien.

"Nathanaël?" He was called out to and he turned around in shock.

"I've been looking all over for you!" The blonde model said, stopping to catch is breath.

"Really?" Nathanaël asked. Adrien frowned.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well I did go bonkers and tried to erase Alya out of existence. Any sane person would have hit the road" he said sardonically.

"Guess I'm not sane then" Adrien said, cracking a smile. "So let's go take a walk." 

Nathanaël nodded. They walked away from the arcade and into the park. It was empty.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Nathanaël said, somewhat surprised. He was the one that went somewhat crazy and tried to erase someone from existence. Adrien had no reason to apologize so why...

"I mean today was supposed us two hanging out and then when Marinette and Alya came along I just kinda left you there. That was totally rude"

"It's no problem." Nathanaël lied. "It's not like it was a date or anything." Reality wasn't as maxing as his dreams were.

"Well I kinda wanted it to be" Adrien said, so softly that he almost didn't hear it. His head snapped up. Adrien was looking the other way.

"What?"

"Uhm well I uh wanted to ask you out on a date but I kinda half chickened out he admitted."

Nathanaël felt ridiculously happy.

"Seriously" he asked.

"Yeah. So Uhm...." Adrien mumbled something else after that.

"What? I couldn't hear?" Nathanaël said earnestly. Adrien was blushing by now.

"I would you like to go on a official date with me this weekend." 

There was silence for a few minutes.

"I mean if your busy or anything, it's okay..." Adrien continued but Nathanaël didn't let him finish.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" He said happily a smile blooming on his face. Adrien also grinned.

"Awesome!" He said.

Nathanaël considered this a perfect ending to an awful day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly think that The Evillustrator can pretty much do whatever he wants to or what his imagination thinks of.
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for the comments and kudos it means a lot
> 
> Lots of Love, LM


	16. Sorry

After taking care of the Evillustrator again, something that thanks to chat noir, hadn't been that difficult, Marinette rushed to find Alya again.

A date! She and Alya had interrupted a date! It honestly explained a lot of things. Why Nino hadn't been here and why he had been so secretive. It also explained Nathanaëls extremely good mood. She found Alya in the arcade.

"Girl, I just saw Adrien pass by, you could still have a chance to play some games with him!" Alya said excitedly. Marinette shook her head.

"Alya" she said sadly. "They were on a date. We interrupted their date." She felt awful. Especially with what Chat Noir had said earlier.

"Wait seriously?!" She asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. And now I feel so bad. Poor Nathanaël." She said. She made up her mind. Next time she saw him, she would apologize to him and to Adrien. 

___________

Much to his surprise, Chloé was at Leo's apartment waiting for him when he got home.

"Nathanaël! She said. "So how was the date?!"

"Awful!" He said as he collapsed on the couch. He was absolutely exhausted.

"Marinette and Alya came by and stole him away from me. Then I turned into the Evillustrator again" he said with a sigh.

"The Evillustrator?" Leo asked. "That was you?"

"Yup" he said.

 

"I can't believe it! Those two ruined your date with Adrien! This cannot stay like this-"

"Calm down Chloé." Nathanaël said. "He actually asked me out on a official date this weekend!" He was grinning like crazy. Leo raised a brow.

"Wow, that moment when you have a better live life than me."

"This is Perfect! And this time we have to let those two meddlers know it's a date and keep them out of it!" Chloé said with determination. 

"Wait!" Leo suddenly shouted.

"What!?" Chloé said in annoyance.

"You might uh have to avoid the Gale sister too." He said. Nathanaël felt dread creep up on him.

"Why?"

"Because you know how you've been ignoring Kiki for more than a month now?" He nodded.

"Well dad called to warn me, they're all flying over to Paris." He slumped back on the couch. Just what he needed.

"Who are the 'Gale sisters?" Chloé asked.

"Kiki, Vera and Lydia Gale. They're my cousins and childhood friends." They were also way too pushy sometimes. Great. Just what he needed.

____________

The next day he was dropped off by Leo as usual and stood there, waiting for Adrien. It had become a sort of daily thing to walk to the classroom with each other, and Chloé if she got there on time.

"Hey Nathanaël?" It was Marinette. 

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Uhm well could I talk to you for a   
minute?" She asked. She looked like she hadn't slept very well. He nodded. They walked off to an isolated comer of the school. He'd have to explain to Adrien later why he hasn't been upfront.

"So what is it?" He asked.

"It's about yesterday. I'm really sorry! I had no idea it was a date or anything!" She said really fast. Poor girl looked like she was about to cry. Nathanaël put a hand on her shoulder.

"Relax, it's okay. I mean I was really disappointed that the date didn't go very smoothly and all but it isn't your fault. It's not even Alya's fault. If anything I should be apologizing to you for nearly erasing your best friend from existence." He said.

"Still it was rude and everything. I'm an awful friend." 

"That's not true!" He insisted. He might really like Adrien but his crush for Marinette was still there. It pained him to see her like this. 

"It is! I mean first I pushed you about your accident when you obviously didn't want to talk about it, then I nearly killed you with that muffin, I started ignoring when you started hanging out with Chloé and now I ruined your date!"

"Seriously Marinette it's fine! You're an amazing friend. Plus the muffin was a complete accident, and I know you just really don't get along with Chloé."

"But-"

"No buts! Marinette it wasn't your fault, and even if my date didn't go as planned I forgive you."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously" he confirmed and gave her a hug.

"Thanks" she said with a smile.

"It's no problem. Now let's get to class" he said.

He suddenly remembered how complicated his life was a few weeks ago as his crush on Marinette resurfaced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some Marinette x Nathanaël fluff ^_^
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments.
> 
> Lots of Love, LM


	17. Chapter 17

"Kid you're even more nervous than you were the other day!" Plagg said as he munched on a piece of cheese. Adrien was standing in front of the mirror messing with his hair. 

"Of course I am!" He exclaimed. "This is an actual official date! Not only does that mean that Nathanaël likes me back, it has to be perfect! Especially to make up for the last one." He grimaced at the memory. It had to be perfect!

Plagg rolled his eye and flew up to him. 

"I don't get you humans and your love. Didn't you claim to love Ladybug a few weeks ago?"

"I know. But to be honest Ladybug has never shown any interest in me. We're best friends and partners but that's about it. Then there's Nathanaël. I've gotten to know him and all, and I actually started falling in love with him. I know a lot more about him than I do about Ladybug and he likes me back. I should just move on and give myself a chance to be happy." He said seriously. It still pained his heart to know that his lady would probably never like him back. Admitting it was like pouring salt into the wound. Despite that he was determined to let it go. 

Shaking the depressing thoughts out off his head, he finished getting ready before turning to Plagg. 

"How do I look?" He asked the black Kwami.

"Same as always" he said with a shrug. Adrien sighed. The he turned to the door and liked at it with a determined expression on his face. This was going to be perfect!

______________

"Nathanaël stop brushing dust off your shirt. There's absolutely no more to be brushed off, especially since you've been doing that for the last hour." Leo said before bitting into a cookie piled with cinnamon.

"Ugh you're washing your hands before we leave. There's no way your getting near me with all that cinnamon over you. It's my first official date with Adrien-"

"It's your first date with anyone." Leo interrupted.

"No actually I once when on a date with Marinette for my birthday as the Evillustrator." He pointed out. "But that's besides the point. I don't need an allergic reaction messing up my date."

"Geez relax short stack. Everything'll be fine. People know it's a date this time, you know it's a date this time, and you've got Chloé and even Makenna backing you up."

And it was true. Makenna, who was now letting her red hair grow out without dying it, had vacation so she had come back and teamed up with Chloé to make sure there were no interruptions. 

"Fine let's go then. I don't wanna be late."

"Sure, you go ahead to the car and ok meet you there" Leo said before throwing him the keys. Nathanaël caught them and took the elevator down to the parking lot. He climbed into the car and sat down to wait. The he focused on not hyperventilating.

Their date was something simple. They were just going to see a movie and then they were going to go eat lunch and maybe hang out at the park. It shouldn't go wrong. Still, he couldn't help but be nervous, especially with what happened the other day with the Evillustrator. He wanted it to be perfect.

He sighed as Leo sat into the drivers seat.

"Ready to go?"

"Probably not" Nathanaël answered. 

"Stop chickening out. You both like each other, you know each other pretty well and get along pretty well. Just go on your date and if your lucky get your mack on" Leo said as he started the engine.

"Leo!" He shouted blushing bright red. 

"Don't give me that reaction. Don't lie to me and tell me you haven't thought about kissing him?" Nathanaël didn't dignify that with a reply no matter how true it was. The rest of a car ride was spent with him redder than a tomato.

____________

Eventually Leo dropped him off and Nathanaël took a deep breath. He could do it. This was gonna be awesome. 

He started walking to the movie theater. He spotted Adrien standing in front, looking around anxiously. The blonde model ran his hands through his hair every five seconds.

"Adrien!" He called out. A smile bloomed on the blondes face.

"Hey Nath!" He greeted as he got closer.

"Hey" Nathanaël said, a smile on his face. 

"You ready?" Adrien asked. Nathanaël shrugged.

"I'll admit that I'm ridiculously anxious right now. I've been so nervous Leo pushed me out of the car again." He said and Adrien laughed.

"I've been really nervous too." The blonde admitted.

"Well then, let's make this the best date ever?" Nathanaël suggested. Adrien grinned.

"Sounds like a plan." He said.

They walked into the movie theater and stood in line. While they waited to buy the tickets they started making movie choices.

"Okay so we have the chick flick, kid movie, documentary, regular horror movie, anime horror movie." Nathanaël said as he read the board.

They looked at each other. 

"Horror" they said at the same time.

"Which one though?" Nathanaël asked. Adrien stared at the board for while. 

"Both of them!" He finally said. "We watch the anime one first then the normal one" he said. Nathanaël frowned. 

"But you're already paying for this, I can't make you waste double the money." 

"I kinda have money to spare." He pointed out. "Plus it's no problem." He gave him the cutest grin. Nathanaël relented. Adrien bought the tickets and they went to buy snacks. As traditional with movie theaters they bought popcorn and soda and several boxes of candy. For some reason Adrien bought cheese. Actually Adrien always seemed to have cheese on him. Weird.

They went to watch the anime horror first. It was pretty cool. Nathanaël did feel queasy after it though. Anime horror tended to rely on a lot of gore. Yuck. The movie itself was pretty good and it had an okay plot. As a plus it didn't rely on ecchi like some anime movies did.

Then they went the normal horror movie. They clung to each other like too wimpy little girls. At one point they even lifted the armrest so they could be more comfortable. Adrien was warm and comfy. Like a blonde comfy pillow.

Eventually the movie ended though so he had to let go. Adrien didn't seem to keen on letting go either. Though that could've just been his wishful thinking.

They found a nice small café and decided to have lunch there.

"So just a heads up Adrien, haunted hotels don't make good date spots" Nathanaël said, referring to the movie earlier.

"I'll keep that in mind" he said with a chuckle. "That was the stupid part of the movie. Who willingly goes into a haunted house. I would have done a 360 and left right away." 

"Actually," Nathanaël said. "When I was like 10, Leo dared Makenna to stay inside that haunted church where the family got killed. She was supposed to stay there for fifteen minutes."

"What happened?" 

"She stayed there the whole night. Me and Leo were actually freaked out when she didn't come out. I thought she'd died or something."

"Sounds scary." 

"It was. I was so freaked out! I ignored her for like a week."

After they are they went for a walk in the park. It was starting to get dark due to their double movie. They found a nice park bench to laze around for a while.

"So how was our first official date?" Adrien asked him.

"The best!" Nathanaël answered truthfully. "I had a really great time."

"That's good. I had fun too." Adrien said. Nathanaël smiled.

"But seriously, thanks for coming." Adrien said. "I was scared to even ask you out at first, and after that fail the other day I was afraid you wouldn't want to hang out with me anymore."

"That's impossible. Help, I've fallen and I can't get up." Nathanaël said, mocking the tv commercial. "If anything though, I should be thanking you. I would have never gotten the courage to ask you out. Chloé would have probably done something drastic."

They both looked at each other in mock horror as they imagined leaving their love life up to Chloé. Scary.

"Yeah good thing we didn't leave it up to her." Adrien. Nathanaël nodded in mock seriousness.

"She was probably about to. When she found about my crush on you, she had this psychpathic glint in her eyes. Good thing me and her weren't friends for my other crushes."

"Other crushes? So who else have you liked?" Adrien asked curiously. "I mean I know about Marinette but anyone else?"

Nathanaël suddenly turned several shade of red when he remembered his crush on Chat Noir.

"I-I'm not telling" he said with a slight stutter. Adrien narrowed his eyes.

"Say Nathanaël, are you ticklish."

"Oh no! Adrien Agreste, don't you dare!"

"Too late." And suddenly he was being attacked by the blonde model who started tickling him. He burst in the laughter as he tried to push Adrien. After five minutes he gave up.

"I give! I give!" He yelled out.

"So will you tell me?" Adrien asked.

"Schmahnohaire" he mumbled quietly.

"What?" Adrien asked.

"Schmahnohaire" he repeated, his words still unintelligible.

"I understood nothing Nath." Adrien said earnestly.

"I said, Chat Noir!" Nathanaël said, this time loud and clearly.

"Whoa seriously?" Adrien asked.

"Yeah I guess. That day with the jailer he rescued me and I kinda had a crush on him for a while." Nathanaël admitted.

"Well he is good looking cat." Adrien pointed out. Nathanaël laughed.

"So anyways, can I ask you something?" Adrien said. He was somewhat fidgety.

"Sure what is it?"

"So Uhm wanna be my boyfriend?" He asked. Nathanaël felt like he would burst from happiness.

"Adrien, there's seriously no way I would ever say no!" He answered. Adrien's face lit up brighter than a Christmas tree.

"So does that mean I get to do this?" Adrien asked, and before Nathanaël could ask what "this" was, he was kissed. 

The kiss was short and sweet, and Nathanaël found himself wanting more.

"Hell yeah!" He answered before he kissed Adrien.

That's when he realized he had truly fallen for Adrien and hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like how this chapter turned out. It was adorable.
> 
> Thanks for the comments and kudos it means a lot.
> 
> Lots of love, LM


	18. Clues

Nathanaël woke up the next day feeling happier than ever. His date had been perfect. With a smile he stood up from the bed and walked out into the living room. He was hungry.

He walked past Leo who was sprawled on the couch with a sketchbook and a mango cinnamon smoothie.

"Morning sunshine!" Leo greeted from the couch."

"Morning!" He said while pulling out a box of brownies. He quickly scanned the back of the box to make sure it didn't have cinnamon. Satisfied that it didn't, he pulled out a juice box.

He walked back to the living room and sat on a empty part of the couch. He turned on the tv.

"So your date went well I take it?" Leo asked.

"Yeah it was pretty good" he said before bitting into a brownie.

"Yeah I can see it did, especially with all these pictures Makenna sent me. There's even one of you two kissing."

Nathanaël started choking on his brownie.

"W-what?!" He asked in between coughs.

"Makenna sent me a whole bunch of pictures of your date. I have to say, it's very adorable." The blonde said, showing him a whole album of pictures on his phone. 

Nathanaël groaned. Stupid Chloé and Stupid Makenna.

____________

Adrien blinked as a bunch of pictures were suddenly sent to his phone. As he browsed through them, he realized something. They were all of him and Nathanaël. He turned several shades red. There was even of few from when they kissed. 

The he received a text from Chloé. 

[You're Welcome] 

He saved them all. 

Then he got up and started getting ready for the day. Today he actually had free time so he had decided to do something very important that he had been putting off. Figure out whether Marinette and Ladybug were the same person. 

He didn't want to just accuse her of being Ladybug without any facts. He definitely didn't want another incident like the one with Lady Wifi.

With that decided, he went out to the public library to do some thinking. He took a blank notebook and some pens to write stuff down. 

Once at the library, he took a few books and found a secluded spot to work. He didn't need anyone reading over his shoulder.

He started with the basics. Appearance.

While he had never actually paid much attention to it, Marinette and Ladybug actually looked alike. They were both the same height, had the exact same eye, skin and hair color, and had the same hairstyle. Marinette also always wore circular earings.

Another thing he noticed was that Marinette was physically very fit and was stronger than any other person in their class. Then there was also the fact that whenever there was an Akuma attack she was missing. The facts all seemed to add up.

The there were other clues, like how they both saw Nathanaël run away from his house, and Ladybufs reaction to his comment on rudely interrupted dates. And thinking back, there was also the whole incident with the first time Nathanaël was Akumatized. Then there was Ladybug's attitude towards Chloé, which was the same as-

"Hey Adrien." He quickly shut the notebook closed. The he looked up and saw it was Marinette. 

"Oh Marinette! Sorry, you startled me." He said. Hopefully she hadn't glanced at the notebook.

"Oh did I? Sorry. It's just..."

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to apologize for the other day. I mean, I ruined your date with Nathanaël and all so I'm so sorry! If I had know..."

"It cool. I mean sure I was kinda upset at first but everything worked out in the end. Me and Nathanaël even went on another one to make up for it."

"Really? that's good. I hope it went better than the other day."

"It did. No akumas anywhere." He said.

"Not that Nathanaël has ever done much harm" Marinette pointed out. "He's one of a kind." She said.

Adrien nodded. "That he is" he commented. Then he realized something.

"Hey we managed to have a whole conversation just now!" He said. Marinette blushed.

"I g-guess so" she said. He smiled at her. If Marinette was really Ladybug, it wouldn't hurt to get to know her.

"Wanna sit with me? It's kinda boring sitting alone at the library." He said. 

"Oh Uhm okay."

That day they actually managed to have a pretty lengthy conversation and for now, all was well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the clues are just too obvious...
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos, it means a lot.
> 
> Lots of Love, LM


	19. Not Alone

Monday came rolling back again and then it was time to go back to school. Nathanaël was conflicted.

He could get up and go see Adrien, his boyfriend (by God, he loved saying that). Or stay here in his comfortable bed. It was a really tough decision. Eventually he had to get up though, because Leo, no matter how hard to believe it, was actually a responsible person.

So with some reluctance he actually managed to get ready and into the car. He was exhausted. Why were Monday's so awful?

He was dropped off as usual and drowsily stood around as he waited for Adrien. 

"Hey" the blonde model greeted with a radiant smile. Adrien was really adorable when he smiled.

"Glad you think so" Adrien said with a chuckle. Nathanaël blinked.

"I said that out loud didn't I?"

"Yes you did." Adrien affirmed. Damn his sleep deprived head.

"I feel like a walking soulless body. I'm exhausted." Nathanaël explained as he clung to Adrien's arm. "Also, my mind has no filter so I may speak my thoughts. My thoughts are weird" 

Adrien patted his head in consolation.

"Don't worry, I'll do my best to save you from embarrassment" he said in mock seriousness. Nathanaël cracked a smile.

"My hero. What would I do without you." He said sarcastically.

"I couldn't deprive you of my horrible presence" Adrien said jokingly. "How cruel would that be!" They managed to keep a straight faces for three seconds before they burst out laughing.

They walked into class and chatted for a few minutes before the bell rung. 

Nathanaël couldn't concentrate that day. He actually spent most of his classes catching up on sleep. By the time lunch was over, he had fixed his sleepiness and felt pretty great.

They had Literacy now. They also had to separate into groups. Nathanaël looked at his group wondering how it had happened and how it was going to work out.

So it started with the teacher announcing a project and telling them to split up into groups. Chloé and Sabrina immediately sought him out. Then they invited Adrien and by extension added Nino and then Alya came along and finally Marinette. This was going to blow up somehow.

"So how are we gonna do this?" Alya asked.

"Easy" Chloé said. "Nath and Marinette can do the decorating stuff and make it look nice, the rest of you do the research, I fund the project by paying for supplies and food.

"That's not fair-" Alya said. Nathanaël interrupted.

"Can we please not fight. Chloé can you at least do the work sheet and labeling."

"Fine" she huffed. Nathanaël sighed. This was going to be stressing.

_____________

They had decided to work at the library for this, and Chloé being Chloé, had rented out one of the rooms used for lectures and stuff and they had a lot of junk food all over to keep them fed. It was somewhat peacefully. Chloé and Marinette were kept faraway from each other, meanwhile Nathanaël never strayed far from Adrien.

As they all left for the day Nathanaël said goodbye to Adrien and went to the paper store, as he had run out of lead for his mechanical pencil. As he left, he got ready to call me when someone tapped his shoulders. He turned around to see a blonde girl with curly hair. She was decked in all pink and seemed angry. Kiki Gale.

/you and I have a lot to talk about/ she signed using ASL.

/Sorry. Tomorrow? Over phone? I'm bad at ASL/ he awkwardly signed back.

/Tomorrow after school. Vera and Lydia will be there. You better show up/

He nodded to show he understood. At least he hoped he did. Then he said goodbye. 

Kiki Gale, his cousin and childhood friend had become deaf after getting ill. She used ASL to communicate but Nathanaël wasn't good at it. He often got confused, which was usually why he talked to her through online chat and while she could read his lips, he wasn't so good at communicating back.

He called Leo to pick him up and stood around waiting. When his brother finally arrived, he got in the car with a sigh.

"What's with that face?" Leo asked him.

"Ran into Kiki. I have lunch with her and the other two tomorrow after school and I have exactly lain everything to them."

"Eesh tough luck."

"I know" he said groaning.

"Hey?" Leo said after a few moments of silence.

"Huh?"

"Well Dad called. They've been settling the divorce and stuff"

"Oh?"

"Mom hasn't been doing really good, the court declared her incapable of taking care of children. Once everything's been settled, Makenna and the twins are moving in with in with him after this. He says if you'd like, you can move in with him or I could have custody of you. It your choice." Leo said. Nathanaël nodded.

His dad, though not related by blood, had always been there for him. Despite that, he had been traumatized from the incident months ago. He didn't know what to think or say. 

Life was so complicated.

_______________

The next day he was in a low mood. With the Gale sisters here and that whole issue with his parents. He was sure the only reason he actually managed to sleep last night was because he was too physically exhausted to continue awake.

Talking to Adrien helped him a little, but by the time school ended he was still nervous. He sighed as he made his way to the meeting place.

The three sisters were sitting there each eating already. Kiki had a notepad with her. 

"Hey" he greeted tapping the table in front of Kiki to let him know he was there. She smiled and waved at him. Then she poked Lydia who was listening to music at a ridiculously high volume. At this rate she'd end up going deaf too. 

"Hi Nathanaël" Vera said with a bored expression. He liked to think she was born like that. He was sure he had never seen her smile, as she always had that serious expression on her face.

Lydia pulled out her headphones. 

"Hey Nath. What's up!" She said happily.

"Not much." He said. That was such a lie.

"That's a lie" Vera said. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

"That's because I haven't until last night." He rebuked. Vera anointed him way too much sometimes.

"And whys that?" She asked.

"Because It's been a few must days. Between homework, a two dates I had been looking forward and all that orange soda I've been drinking, I haven't gotten much sleep." And this wasn't a lie. Vera stared at him while Lydia signed his response at Kiki. Vera opened her mouth to say something else but Lydia interrupted her.

"Kiki wants to know if your finally dating the girl you've had a crush on for a while." He shook his head.

"No it's someone else. A guy." He admitted while shifting his previously injured elbow. Something he had been warned about was that the extreme cold, humidity, and rain would cause it to hurt once in a while.

"That isn't important at the moment" Vera interrupted. "Say, why have you been shifting your right arm so often?"

"Because people don't know that garbage belongs in the trash and I slipped over some wrapper and fell back on moms table in the kitchen with all the glass and pictures." He informed her. "I had a light fracture until a few weeks ago."

"But you don't live with your parents anymore." Vera would make a good lawyer just like his dad was. Probably ran in the family.

"Vera, your smart. You should know a fracture would take weeks even months to heal. Obviously this was a long time ago."

"I see. Why did you stop talking to Kiki?" 

"Because she was being pushy, and then it became difficult to do so with my injured arm. I figured Makenna would tell Kiki."

"And why did you go to Leo? You two hate each other." He was sick of this.

"Listen Vera, people grow up. Leo is old enough to let go of stupid childish notions he had as a child and I've never hated him. I'm tired of you being so pushy right now! Lydia, Kiki, I'll talk to you guys later. Goodbye!"

He said angrily and walked away. He heard Lydia yelling at Vera but ignored it. He was seriously mad. As he was walking angrily with no destination in mind, he bumped into someone. 

"Sorry" they both said at the same time and Nathanaël looked up.

"Oh hey Marinette!"

"Nathanaël, hi." She greeted with a smile.

"Sorry about that. I honestly didn't even know where I was going."

"It's okay. So what's going on? You've a bit weird all day." She asked with concern.

"Too much." He said truthfully. "Dunno if you wanna hear my drama novel of problems" he said with a small smile.

"It's really no problem. Why don't you come over and you could tell me about it." She offered.

"I'll take you up in that offer." He said. Marinette was a good friend and he could tell she was worried. He didn't want to do the same thing he had done to her before.

And so he found himself in her room with cinnamon free sweets, telling her all about his problems. Right from the very beginning.

"That's awful" she said once he had finished. He bit a cookie thoughtfully.

"It really is. At this point I don't even know what to do." 

She gave him a comforting hug. He gad to convince himself he didn't like it as much as he did.

"Don't worry it'll be fine. If you ever need help you have me and Adrien. You even have Chloé." She said. He smiled back at her. She was right. He wasn't alone, not anymore.


	20. Eye of the Storm

Another week passed, and not much really happened. Nathanaël did re-establish communication with Kiki, and reluctantly told the girl all about his new relationship. 

He continued to stay with Leo and was still undecided about what to do. The only consolation was that he knew Leo wouldn't kick him out anytime soon. Honestly, he wanted to put off his decision and the talk he most likely needed to have with his father, up to last minute. Admittedly, he was running from his problems but he couldn't find any other solution to it. He just hoped he wouldn't have to see his mother any time soon, not after what had happened.

"Hey Nath. You okay? You're getting all spaced out again." Adrien pointed out before taking a bite out of his croissant.

"Oh, sorry. I'm still a bit tired from yesterday. Chloé and Marinette are a force to be reckoned with." He said, referring to the fact that they had worked on the project yesterday. While both girls had obviously made an effort to avoid each other, there had still been a few problems. It was like cats and dogs. They could get used to each other but you had to keep a watchful eye over them.

Adrien nodded. "Even so they did manage behave for the most part yesterday. At least better than they did on Tuesday."

"Ugh don't remind me." He said before stealing some of Adrien's apple juice. His own drink had run out minutes earlier. 

Today they were having lunch together, as Adrien hadn't needed to go to a photo shoot. He had found it a pleasant surprise earlier, as he had thought the blonde model was busy all week. Now that he observed his boyfriend closely though, he realized that Adrien had a nasty bruise. 

The bruise was a deep purple and was something probably very difficult to cover up with make up, using by the fact that he had noticed it. It was even red at a certain point, as if the skin had broken from the inside but the outer layer of skin hadn't. It looked painful. As if he had slammed into a sharp angle like a door or as if someone punched him hard with a hair clip.

"Ouch!" He commented. "Did you lose a fight with you closet door or something?"

"Huh?"

"That bruise under your cheekbone." He pointed out.

"Oh that. More like I lost a fight with a clipboard and a brick."

"What? How?" Nathanaël asked. It sounded like somethings Leo would do.

"It's a story so embarrassing I honestly want to forget it ever happened. I was bored, so I just started grabbing random things lying around my room and just doing weird things. Then I fell asleep by the clipboard being help open by the brick. I'm a very restless sleeper."

Nathanaël raised an eye skeptically. "Why did you even have a brick in your room?"

"Oh, one time I wanted to see if my dad even paid attention to what I bought. I decided to shop for bricks, a fish tank, and colorful Mardi Gras masks." He said. Nathanaël rolled his eyes. 

"We'll be carful next time. Falling asleep next to bricks is never a good idea." He chastised.

"Of course! Couldn't ruin the perfect view that is me could I now?" Adrien said with a wink. Nathanaël laughed and responded with some light hearted sarcasm. He couldn't help but noticed that Adrien had changed the conversation topic somewhat fast. He dismissed it. Nothing was wrong. Right?  
_____________________

"A clipboard and a brick? I don't know who's the bigger idiot. You for coming up with that ridiculous story or the kid for actually buying it" Plagg said when they got home. Adrien collapsed on his bed.

"I figured that making up a story like that would make it more believable." Adrien said. The truth was that he had gotten it during a fight yesterday with an Akuma who called herself the "Pincer". Those things kept getting weirder and weirder.

"The worst part is, you actually do have a bunch of bricks here" Plagg said, looking over to the corner of his room. He had actually taken the bricks and drawn faces in them so now he had a bunch of bricks in the corner staring at him. It was slightly creepy...

"Yeah whatever." Adrien said as he picked up his schoolbag. He needed to get started on his homework so he could patrol with Ladybug later.

____________

Nathanaël sat in Marinette's family's bakery, a hot chocolate clutched in his hand and a plate of cookies besides him. He was halfheartedly munching on one while he waited for his dad.

His father had sent him a text earlier to meet him here after school. He had to admit, he didn't mind the meeting spot. He had been able to talk with Marinette for moral support a while ago and he knew that the girl was right there just in case he needed her.

"Nathanaël," he heard his name being said. He looked up to see his father. 

"D-dad" he said, slightly stuttering. To be honest he was still scared of him. He unconsciously shifted his right arm. His dad visibly flicked when he noticed the stutter. Nathanaël avoided his gaze. 

"Son, I know there's nothing I can do to make it right, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry for hurting you." He said. There was remorse etched all over his face. "No matter the situation, I should have never touched you."

"It's, it's okay." Nathanaël finally said. "You were angry and I just came out of nowhere."

"That still doesn't make it okay. I'm your father. I supposed to protect you and take care of you. What I did was inexcusable."

"I know, but I know you're sorry. My injuries healed and I'm all fine now" he said. He relaxed a bit. This wasn't so bad. 

His dad stayed quiet for a while.

"Thank you Nathanaël" he finally said.

They stayed there for a while just talking and catching up. They talked about everything that had gone on. He even told him about Adrien. 

Perhaps they storm was over, perhaps everything would go back to normal.

Or perhaps they were just in the eye of the storm.


	21. Nightmares

Nathanaël and Adrien were sitting at a small cafe, each quietly drinking away at the hot chocolate they had bought. 

"Why is it that you both choose a table right next to miss pigtails over here, and just stare at her?" Leo asked, walking towards them. He had a mango cinnamon smoothie in hand. Nathanaël and Adrien turned to look at each other with an equal look of mortification before turning to Leo.

"W-we were just watching her draw" Nathanaël managed to say before paying more attention to his got chocolate.

"Y-yeah, that's it, just watching her draw! He he..." Adrien said before looking down.

"Sure you were." Leo said and rolled his eyes. "Anyways, behave or whatever. Merrlise wants me to switch with her." 

They were on a field trip today to another city, and it would last three days. Leo had signed up as chaperone. Nathanaël had yet to decide whether that was fortunate or unfortunate.

"So Uhm" he said when Leo had gone. Adrien nodded.

"Uhm...Marinette draws really nice. It's calming to watch her draw?" Nathanaël nodded. That's the story they were both sticking to.

"So, Marinette looks a bit lonely." Nathanaël pointed out. Alya had gone taking pictures and Marinette had opted for relaxing here with a few other students.

Adrien nodded. "Maybe we should go visit her." He said. Nathanaël nodded in agreement. Maybe the atmosphere would stop being so awkward as it was right now.

they got up, grabbed their drinks and walked over to Marinette. She looked up at them.

"Oh hey." She said. She had recently done a great job of talking to Adrien normally. Nathanaël wasn't sure he liked because he still had a small crush on her or because Adrien was his boyfriend.

"Hey, we thought you could use some company." Nathanaël said with a smile. Marinette smiled back.

"Oh, sure. Sit down." She said, moving her stuff over.

"So how do you like the trip so far?" Marinette asked. Nathanaël shrugged.

"It's okay. A bit tiring though." He commented before letting out a yawn.

"Maybe if you didn't stay up all night outside you wouldn't be so tired" Adrien said, reaching over to ruffle his hair.

"What were you doing up all night?" Marinette asked him.

"I snuck back into the nature reserve because I wanted to draw that part we stopped by yesterday, at night. I actually fell asleep over there" he recounted.

"Yeah and I still say that was stupid. He could've been eaten by a bear." Adrien said as he stole one of Marinette's pens and started drawing cat faces over his paper cup.

"Not really." Marinette said. "There aren't that many bears, and if he stuck to the path, it should have been safe."

"But he didn't" Adrien said. Nathanaël swatted his arm.

"Shoosh, don't tell on me." 

"Nathanaël!" Marinette said. He hid his face behind the menu. 

"That's extremely dangerous. You know there are elk, and even mountain lions that could have hurt you there! Why didn't you stick to the path?"

"Because then they'd seen me on the cameras and they'd know I broke in." Nathanaël answered her. He decided not to tell her he'd almost stepped on a sleeping snake.

"Well then don't break in next time." She said, smacking him over his head. "Imagine if something bad happened to you!?"

"She's right" Adrien chimed in. His paper cup was covered in cat faces by now. "It would really be a Cat-tastrophe if you got eaten by a mountain lion." He said with a serious face. While Nathanaël was used to Adrien's occasional use of cat puns, he had to repress a giggle at Marinette's expression. 

"No, please don't" she said.

"What? Don't tell me mew don't like my pawsome cat puns?" Adrien asked with a sly grin on his face. Marinette buried her face in her hands. 

"Nooo! Please no!"

"Hahaha!" Nathanaël laughed. He couldn't help it. 

"So glad you find my misfortune entertaining." Marinette said with a pout. No, it did not make her look adorable. Not at all.

"Sorry." He said once he had calmed down. "Your face was priceless though."

"He's pawsitively right." Adrien said, finally putting down Marinette's pen.

"Adrien!"

"Hahahahah!"

"Nathanaël!"

________________

Nathanaël yawned before taking the finishing bite of his brownie. He was exhausted but didn't want to go to sleep. Not with all the nightmares.

For a while back now, he had been having recurring nightmares. At first they were harmless enough, mostly just memories of him as the Evillustrator. He didn't pay too much attention to them at first. 

Then he started to think. What if he had hurt someone while akumatized. What if Chloé, his best friend had gotten seriously injured before they became friends. He had even tried to erase Alya out of existence!

That's when the nightmares started getting worse. 

People he cared about would get seriously injured by him. Leo, Adrien, Chloé, Marinette, they would all get hurt. He would even hurt Ladybug and Chat Noir. 

Then people started dying. There were so many ways they would die, all by his hands. What if he turned into the Evillustrator again? What if he hurt or killed someone? It was these thoughts that prevented him from sleeping.

He furiously sketched away, trying to force the sleep away. Pencil and paper wasted, the air cooled, but he still didn't stop. If he did, he might be tempted to put down the notebook and pencil. If that happened, he might fall asleep. He couldn't-

"Nathanaël?" His head snapped up at the sound of the voice. It was Adrien. 

"Yeah?" He asked, suppressing a yawn. There were a million thoughts running through his head and he hoped he wouldn't accidentally voice them like he often did when tired.

"What are you doing here? It's two in the morning. I was worried when I woke up and didn't see you." He hadn't considered the possibility of Adrien waking up even if they were sharing a room along with Leo and Nino. 

"Oh is it? Sorry I didn't realize." He lied. "You can go back. I'll be by in a few minutes." He said with a smile. Adrien only frowned.

"Liar. You've barely slept since we've been here. I'm pretty sure you haven't been sleeping properly since before. I'm not an idiot you know." Unfortunately.

"It's fine Adrien. I just want to stay here a little longer" he said flatly. There were footsteps and suddenly Adrien was right in front of him.

"Nathanaël, you're worrying me. What's wrong." Adrien asked. Nathanaël made the mistake of looking at him. His bright green eyes were filled with concern. Nathanaël broke down. 

He was suddenly crying and sobbing. Tears streamed down his face and he clung to Adrien, who was somewhat shocked by this turn of events.

The blonde sat down besides him and accommodated himself, Nathanaël continued to cry and hug the him. He was vaguely aware of Adrien's hands caressing his hair. Then he heard more foots steps.

"Is everything all right?" It was Marinette. He didn't bother looking up. He didn't want to see her worried face. That's all he ever did. Worry people, always causing them trouble. He didn't deserve all the attention they gave him not at all.

"I'm not exactly sure. I woke up and he was gone. He hasn't been sleeping much these past few days." Adrien answered her. Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder.

"Nathanaël what's wrong?" She asked, her voice laced with concern. More tears streamed down his face.

"I-it w-won't stop." He finally sobbed out. 

"What won't stop?" Adrien asked.

"T-the n-nightmares. T-they get w-worse and then you guys all d-die. I c-can't take it anymore." He felt Marinette sit down besides him.

"What exactly happens in your dreams?" She asked, holding his hand. It was warm, just like Adrien's embrace.

"They weren't s-so b-bad at first. They were j-just memories of when I w-was the Evillustrator." He recounted. "T-hen they turned to nightmare. I-I hurt people... And, and the I killed them, including you two. I just don't want to see t-that anymore." He said. No more, he just wanted the nightmares to go away.

"Oh Nathanaël!" Marinette said. Suddenly both she and Adrien were embracing him.

"You would never do that. You're a good person with a good person" Adrien said.

"But-" he started to protest. Marinette didn't let him get far.

"Don't give me any but's!" She said sternly. "Adrien is right. Even when Akumatized, you were a good person. You never actually hurt anyone badly. You did go after Chloé and Alya but they forgave you. You aren't a bad person Nathanaël, and we trust you."  
She said. 

"T-thank you" he sobbed out, crying again. And they stayed there, out at night in the hotel garden just siting there in each others embraces, sleeping. Nathanaël didn't have a nightmare that night.

____________

Marinette felt a load of her shoulder once Nathanaël's sobbing stopped and his breathing evened out. He was going to be okay. She hoped.

"Marinette?" It was Adrien. "You still awake?" He whispered, probably trying not to wake Nathanaël.

"Yeah" she answered softly.

"Thanks for helping Nathanaël." He said. 

"Of course I would, he doesn't deserve anything that's happened to him. He deserves to be happy" she said, running her fingers through the redheads hair.

"He does" Adrien agreed. "Why were you out here anyways?" He asked.

"I couldn't sleep. I looked out the window and saw you guys here." She answered before breaking into a yawn.

"Oh. Still. Thanks. It means a lot to me and I know it means a lot to Nathanaël." 

"Your welcome" she whispered before falling asleep.

 

The next day all three of them woke up with a cold, but thoroughly content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poor little tomato suffers so. Don't worry though, in the end everything will work out. Also, couldn't resist adding this ot3 moment. 
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos, it means a lot.
> 
> Lots of Love, LM


	22. Sick

Nathanaël let out a dry cough as he got out of bed. Thanks to their genius idea of sleeping outside the other day, they had all caught a cold. Great just what he needed. First no sleep, now a cold.

"Achoo!" He sneezed just as Adrien walked in through the door. The blondes hadn't gotten a cold as bad as his and Marinette's. All he had now was a runny nose.

"Bless you." Adrien said, handing him a war cup of hot chocolate.

"Thanks" he mumbled, taking a drink. The warm chocolaty liquid soothed his sore throat. He sighed in contentment. Hopefully his cough would go away soon, or at this rate he'd looses his voice.

"So how are you feeling?" Adrien asked while sitting besides him.

"Like I've just been run over by the Eiffel Tower if it somehow had wheels." He said. He imagined something like that would would hurt. Adrien chuckled and Ruffles his hair.

"Next time maybe we'll stick to indoors instead of sleeping outside" he said. "So I take it you aren't going to school tomorrow either?"

"Probably not for the rest of the week either." He mentioned while reaching over to the tissue box next to him.

"Wow that sucks"

"What sucks is all the makeup work I'm gonna have to do." He answered, eyeing the pile of papers building up on his desk from the last two days.

"You aren't the only one. Poor Marinette has the same pile on her desk." Adrien said with a small laugh. "Speaking of which, I should go. I still have have to get her work to her and do my own homework". he said. Nathanaël nodded.

"Okay, see you later." He said.

"Bye, take care" Adrien told him before kissing his cheek and leaving. Nathanaël sunk back into his bed. Stupid cold.

__________

"So how are you Marinette?" Adrien's asked as he walked into the girls room. He had a folder filled of notes and worksheets for that day.

"I feel awful." She croaked. To be honest, Adrien could barely hear or see her, simply because she had completely buried and wrapped herself in dozens of blankets.

"I can see that Marinette Burito." He said with a smile as he placed the folder on top of the previous ones he and Alya had brought. Some shifting occurred under the sheets and suddenly he saw Marinette's head pop out. She looked about as bad as Nathanaël.

"So how's Nathanaël?" She asked, reaching over for a glass of water. 

"Physically, he's as bad as you. I'm pretty sure he's close to loosing his voice." He said.

"And mentally?" She asked him.

"He's definitely doing much better. He still hasn't gotten much sleep but that's because he's been sick. He isn't purposely avoiding it anymore though."

"That's good." She said. "It honestly broke my heart to see him like that that. Nathanaël has gone through way too much." She said sadly before another fit of coughing over took her. Adrien quickly rushed to her sighed and handed her the glass of water.

"T-thanks" she said as her coughing fit finally stopped. 

"No problem." He said with a smile. "I'll go and let you rest now." 

"Okay good bye Adrien" she said, weaving at him before burying herself back into her blankets. Adrien found that extremely adorable and gave a little smile before leaving.

He said a goodbye to Marinette's parents before climbing back into the car and instructing his body guard to take him back home. 

He hadn't been surprised in the slightest when Ladybug had let him know that she wouldn't be able to come on patrol for the next few days. He was completely positive by now that Marinette and Ladybug were the same person.

That was the problem. He liked Nathanaël a lot. They were dating after all. He like Marinette/Ladybug as well though. He couldn't say he liked her as much as Nathanaël because he didn't, but there was a still a huge crush there. It caused conflicting feelings for him and it also caused a lot of confusion. How could he like two people at the same time? It made him feel guilty.

He was still thinking about all of this by the time he got home. He was thinking about it so much, he didn't notice Chloé in his room until she cleared her throat.

"Chlo? What are you doing here?" He asked mildly surprised. He shouldn't have been though, it wasn't unusual for Chloé to drop in unannounced once in a while. She had a serious expression on her face today though.

"I have something important to talk to you about. Sit down" she commanded. Adrien frowned.

"Is everything okay Chloé?"

"You have a crush on Marinette" she said bluntly, narrowing her eyes at him. Sometimes he wondered how she got to be so perceptive. He tried to deny it.

"Adrien Agreste, I might be a liar but you know I hate when people lie to me!" She said angrily. He considered that hypocritical but decided not to make Chloé any madder than she was already.

"Fine, so what if I do." He mumbled. "It's not like it matters." 

"Not like it matters? First of all, you can do so much better than Marinette! Second of all, you already have! You have Nathanaël and you can't just go and break his heart you hear me! He's gone through way too much for you to hurt him like that." She yelled angrily. Adrien stood there shocked at Chloé's outburst for a few minutes before he let out a smile.

"You're a really good friend to Nathanaël you know?" He said.

"That's beside the point right now Adrien!" She barked out and he sighed.

"Chloé I would never do anything to hurt Nathanaël. True I have a crush on Marinette but honestly it's just that, a crush. I can honestly say I love Nathanaël. I actually know him a lot more than Marinette and we're happy together." He said. Chloé's face softened.

"Adrien, you know I car about you too, and I want you both to be happy. I'm just warning you to sort this all out before you're in too deep." She said. Adrien nodded.

"I will, but honestly there's nothing left to sort out. Marinette might be cute and all but I love Nathanaël."

"Good, as long as you're sure." She said and briefly hugged him before walking out. He sighed. Life was so complicated sometimes.

______________

After Adrien left, Nathanaël took a nap. He was pleased to say it was still dreamless and he woke up feeling a lot better, with the exception of his throat. He felt like he had just done the cinnamon challenge. His throat stung and it felt patchy. It was also pretty hard to breathe and he was coughing every other second. The only reason he knew he hadn't ingested cinnamon was probably because he'd be dead if he had. 

"Hey short stack, you awake?" Leo asked, poking his head through the door.

"Yeah." He mumbled with a slight shiver. It was so cold in here.

"Good, Chloé called and she's coming to visit." He said. Nathanaël felt conflicted. He felt happy because Chloé was his best friend but somewhat scared because it was Chloé and she wasn't the type of person you wanted to be with when you were sick. 

"Okay. Can you turn up the heat and get me something warm to drink?" He asked, his voice all scratchy and sore. One good thing was that Chloé tended to do all the talking. He wouldn't have to strain his voice.

"Yeah the heats already as high as it'll go without turning you into a boiled tomato. I'm gonna run to the super market so I'll bring you some hot chocolate on the way back." He said. Nathanaël nodded and laid back. 

He was almost asleep once again when Chloé came bursting through his room. 

"Nathanaël!" She said. He sat up with a wince.

"Not so loud Chlo" he said.

"Your voice sounds awful."

"So I've noticed."

"Anyways, I have something to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

"Do you still have a crush on Marinette?" She asked seriously. He briefly considered lying but decided it was best not to. Hypocritical or not, Chloé hated being lied to.

"Uhm, yeah why?" He asked.

"And do you love Adrien?"

"Of course I do! What kind of question is that?" He asked with a huff that ended in a coughing fit.

"Nothing, just needed to know" she said. "Anyways you won't believe what happened at school today..." 

And just like that, the conversation was over. Nathanaël frowned for a second, wondering what was going on I Chloé's mind. Then he decides fed he was too sick and even if he wasn't, he really didn't want to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor I'll Nathanaël and Marinette. Also, these next few chapter will be filled with drama and such, seeing as the fic is nearly complete.


	23. Accident

Nathanaël didn't know anymore. When he was home sick, he was bored but when he was healthy at school, he was still bored.

He sighed as he stared at the board, filled with things he needed to write down. He knew he needed to write it down though because they were notes for an upcoming test. 

He got about two sentences through before he took out his sketch book and started drawing. He'd get them from Sabrina later.

Taking out his pencil, he looked down thoughtfully, thinking about what he was going to draw. Eventually he decided he hadn't drawn Ladybug in a long time. 

Ignoring the lesson, he set pen to paper and started sketching. He did various poses with her. He remembered he hadn't worked on his Ladybug comic on a while. He spent all of science working on some sketches for it.

As the day passed, he went on doing random drawings, sketching the first things that came to mind. Soon enough he started sketching people he knew. 

He drew Chloé in various different ways, including Akumatized, cosplaying as lady bug, and as her made up superhero persona for their role play "Queen Bee".

Once he was finished with Marinette he realized something. Drawing her was almost like drawing Ladybug. At first her frowned and shook his head. Then he got thinking.

Marinette had never been akumatized, and she was always missing when there was an Akuma attack. If that wasn't suspicious, then Chloé was Molly Weasly.

He drew Marinette and then added ladybug clothes on her. Exactly the same. There was no way this was a coincidence. 

The rest of the day, this ate away at his thoughts. He was all spaced out, like he usually was.

"Nathanaël are you okay?" Adrien asked him, his voiced filled with concern and he instantly felt guilty. Usually when he spaced out like this, something was wrong.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking of stupid things that really shouldn't distract me so much" he assured.

"Oh? Like what?" Adrien asked as he took a drink from his hot chocolate. 

"Just Ladybug's secret identity. I don't know why but I feel like I know her civilian self." He admitted. He didn't mention who though. He still wasn't completely positive. Adrien started coughing.

"Oh my god, are you okay Adrien?" He asked the blonde.

"Y-yeah. Sorry. Drink just went down the wrong pipe." He assured. "Anyways you were saying?"

"Yeah I mean I've probably been thinking about it a bit too much, and I honestly don't want to say anything because these are some heavy speculations. I mean didn't Alya once think Chloé was Ladybug." 

"I'll admit I was somewhat convinced of that for about five minutes." He admitted.

 

"Seriously?" Nathanaël asked with an eye roll. "Chloé and Ladybug are nothing alike. Chloe's blonde for one, and Ladybug has black hair last time I checked." He pointed out. Adrien shrugged.

"Alya can be a convincing person sometimes." He said. Nathanaël laughed.

They continued talking for the rest of lunch before they had to go back to class.

______________

"Hey Nathanaël is something wrong?" Marinette asked as she walked over to him.

"Nothing. It's just Leo was supposed to pick me up by now but he hasn't and he isn't picking up his phone." He said as he tried to call him yet again. No one answered.

"Maybe he forgot or something?" She suggested.

"Leo is a slob and distracted but he's been doing this for so long, I doubt he was going to forgot. Knowing him he probably fell asleep or something." He said and tried to call again. Still no answer. 

"Want to come over and wait there?" She asked. Nathanaël looked down at his phone and nodded."

"Yeah. He was up all night. If he fell asleep, he'll be out for a few more hours." Nathanaël said. They walked over to the bakery and started working on homework. It had gotten pretty late by the time he got a phone call. 

"Nathanaël are you okay?" Marinette asked. He didn't answer. He wasn't okay. He was vaguely aware of his dad on the phone but that didn't matter at the moment.

Leo had been driving and fell into a micro sleep for about a few seconds. The car crashed.

Tears started falling. He let his phone drop. Marinette looked shocked for a second before she embraced him.

____________

He rushed to the hospital but Leo wasn't awake. He was in coma. He had hit his head hard, and sprained his wrist. Along with a few scratches, those were his only injury.

These last two days he stayed with his dad, in his old home. He smiled sardonically. This wasn't really his home anymore. Not like the apartment with Leo was.

Nathanaël didn't talk much, barely ate. Just sat there, stared at the wall. He didn't even bother going to school.

Around the third day Adrien came to visit. The blonde didn't say anything, just sat down next to him and embraced him. Nathanaël hugged his boyfriend tightly. And cried he just cried and Adrien just comforted him. He stayed over that night.

On the fourth day his father came up to his room and woke him up. Leo had woken up. He rushed to the hospital. He had never felt so much relief to see Leo.

The blonde was sitting up, refusing to eat the hospital food being served to him.

"Leo!" He said. 

"Hey short stack. What's up?" He asked. Nathanaël rushed into the room and hugged him.

"You idiot. Don't you do that again!" He said as he started crying. Leo was shocked before hugging him back.

_______________

About a week passed and everything was mostly back to normal. Except for one thing. Leo had no car at the moment so getting back to the apartment was going to be pretty difficult. They had been staying with their dad at the moment.

"Meh I'll have insurance cover the cost of the car. I still have my savings too." The blonde pointed out. "It's a good thing my phone survived."

"I dunno how, iPhones are as fragile As paper made from glass. It's a wonder this thing didn't crack." Nathanaël said as he stared at the phone in amazement. It did have some scratches along the screen and it was dented at the top, but other than that it was perfectly fine."

"Miracles and luck." He said. Then the door opened. It was Marinette with two paper bags in her hand. She handed one to Leo and another to him.

"Cinnamon coffee cake for you and a raspberry filled brownie to you." She said. 

"I love you!" Leo said as he took a bite of the coffee cake. "I feel like I haven't had cinnamon in so long.

"You are truly amazing" Nathanaël said. He was starving.

"Thank you. Now eat up you two. Nathanaël you need to start eating properly, I doubt you t much to eat last week and I know for a fact Leo had been refusing all the hospital food." She said with a frown. Nathanaël let out a laugh. She was like a mother hen.

"You haven't been eating?" Leo asked. "I'm no doctor, but seeing as I've been in trouble for refusing hospital food, I don't think that's healthy." He pointed out. Nathanaël shrugged.

"I'm eating okay now." And it was true. He felt so relieved that Leo was back again. Things got difficult sometimes but everything had worked out in the end.

Not that Leo was ever allowed to drive without having slept the night before, again. He'd have to look into public transport later on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a bit more suffering. I do that a lot, don't I?
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos. 
> 
> Lots of love, LM


	24. Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry to have missed two updates! To be honest, there were a lot of things going on and this chapter didn't want to get written. It was somewhat difficult to write it and I also have exams to study for. This next week I'll try to upload everyday but I might have an irregular update schedule.
> 
> Also this chapter is a bit short but this was the only way I felt okay with it. It was a difficult chapter

"Oh my god you guys, stay there! I'll go get help!"

"Nathanaël, we're trapped in a room with our way of oxygen being this little gap. Trust me, we aren't leaving anytime soon." Chloé said with an eye roll.

Marinette felt like bashing her head into a wall. It would be just her luck that an Akuma attacks and she gets stuck in a room with no way out and Chloé. Chloé Bourgeois out of everyone.

She heard footsteps leave and figured Nathanaël was out to get help. She sighed. She should be out there, helping Chat Noir not stuck here with Chloé. Unless...

She shook the thought away. There was no way she'd ever trust Chloé to know she was Ladybug. Not unless there wasn't any other choice.

She looked over to the blonde who was grumbling at something. Not that she cared what it was.

"Stop complaining Chloé!" She said, annoyed.

"Oh shut up! I can complain if I want to!"

"Yeah well it's annoying!"

"Yeah, well you're annoying! Please, I don't know what Adrien and Nathanaël even see in you. Those two and their ridiculous crushes " She said with an angry huff.

"What are you even talking about?" Marinette asked. Chloé raised her a brow.

"Wow I know you're stupid but don't tell you haven't noticed that this two have had crushes on you? I mean Nathanaël even turned into the Evillustrator and all. And Adrien too. Thank god they weren't stupid enough to actually get together with you." She said. Marinette didn't answer though.

"...Adrien had a crush on me?" She said dumbly.

"Oh no you don't," Chloé said. "It doesn't matter anymore because they're both together and happy. Unless they'd somehow wanted to dat you at the same time..." Chloé trailed off. Not that Marinette was paying much attention.

 

__________

Chloé smirked as she saw Marinette run off to do who knows what. While she didn't like the dark haired girl, she cared too much about Nathanaël and Adrien to let this become an issue, so she had decided to take matters into her own hands.

Chloé knew that both Adrien and Nathanaël loved each other and that they both liked Marinette, even if they insisted it was just a crush. She knew Marinette liked Adrien and that she cared a lot for Nathanaël. By suggesting that all three of them date without making it an actual suggestion, Chloé knew Marinette would consider it and she would be forced to think about how she felt about Nathanaël. 

It was perfect, now all she had to do was make sure this didn't go wrong.

________________

Marinette got home and collapsed on her bed. She didn't know what to think anymore. After he came never station with Chloé she couldn't stop thinking about how Adrien had a crush on her. It made her feel extremely guilty though, because she knew Nathanaël and Adrien were happy together.

That's when she started thinking about what Chloé had said. Dating the two of them. 

She figured that the blonde girl didn't mean anything by it but she was still thinking about.

Could she date both of them? She liked Adrien and apparently he had a crush on her. Nathanaël she knew had a crush on him a while ago.

Did she like Nathanaël though?

He was incredibly sweet and she didn't like it when he has hurt. She wanted to keep him safe and protect him. And he wasn't bad looking either. Her eyes widened in realization.

"Oh my god I like Nathanaël"


	25. Polyamory

Nathanaël lazed around in his room, occasionally staring at the time. He had a date later today and patience was not a thing for him right now. Besides him, he had his sketchbook opened up to the pages where he had drawn Marinette and Ladybug.

By now it was completely obvious that Marinette and Ladybug were the same people. Not only did they look exactly the same, there were also a lot of clues that gave it away. 

For example the other day Marinette had gotten stuck in that room with Chloé, ladybug hadn't appeared until after he had gotten help. 

This had made him curious about who was Chat Noir. It wasn't that hard to figure it out. All he had to do was look at the other person who hadn't been akumatized and who acted weirdly sometimes. Adrien Agreste. 

There was a bit more difference with Adrien and Chat Noir, being the hair, but even so, it was still obvious. It also explained why some dates were canceled around Akuma attacks and why Adrien sometimes came to school completely exhausted. It also explained his cat like tendencies.

Still, he had no idea what he could do with this information. He couldn't just go and tell everyone about. He knew he had to keep quiet. He still didn't know what to do about the fact that he had actually admitted to Chat Noir who was actually Adrien, that he had wanted the hangout to be a date. He buried his face in his hands. If that hadn't been embarrassing he didn't know what was.

He could help but worry about Adrien though. He was a super hero (a very good looking one) and was always out and about, fighting Akumas. What if got hurt badly one day? It worried him to no end. Even so he knew Chat Noir had Ladybug. That was another problem. He was somewhat jealous. He knew Chat Noir flirted with Ladybug all the time. He let out a sigh. Maybe confronting Adrien about this would be the best thing. Last time he had kept things to himself he nearly ended up having a mental breakdown.

He stood up and closed his sketchbook. There was a problem with his plan. He had no idea how to mention this to the blonde model. To be honest, he was scared of the reaction Adrien might have if he knew that Nathanaël knew he was Chat Noir.

That's when he realized.

"I'm dating Chat Noir!" He said out loud. He suddenly remembered that time Chat Noir had saved him and promptly blushed. He hid his face behind his hands, even if no one was there to see. He sighed. This was somewhat complicated sometimes.

____________

Adrien stood there staring at the wall blankly as he recalled the conversation he had previously taken part in. This conversation included Chloé, and surely it had been his imagination that she had suggested polyamory. 

Right?

Unfortunately that wasn't the case and now he was standing here thinking about it. Plagg took one look at him a rolled his eyes, mumbling something about love struck idiots and why he preferred cheese. Not that Adrien noticed.

He blankly walked over to the couch and let himself fall into it.

He was still somewhat confused about what Chloé had said. 

"Of course it's like this, you would date Marinette and Nathanaël, Nathanaël would date you and Marinette, and Marinette would date both of you." She had explained. "It's a nobody gets left behind thing"

Yet, he still didn't get it. How could it work out? If he took Chloé's advice and it just ruined everything? He sighed. There were a million different ways this could go wrong. Maybe even more.

"Hey Plagg, what do you think about all of this?" He asked the black kwami. 

"That you humans complicate yourselves too much and you are all idiots. Honestly. You like them both, Nathanaël likes both you and Marinette, and Marinette likes both of you. There shouldn't be so much thinking going on. All this time spent thinking could've been time you spent getting me cheese!"

Adrien rolled his eyes. Plagg did have somewhat of a point though. He decided. He'd mention it to Nathanaël later and the decide depending on his reaction and opinion.

For now though, he had a date to get to.

_________________

Their date was fun, Nathanaël though. Even so he could tell that they were both distracted the whole time. 

by the end of their date they were taking their usual walk through the park. Nathanaël decided this would be the best time to mention the whole Char Noir and Ladybug thing.

"Hey Adrien?"

"Yeah?"

"So Uhm..." He said, fidgeting with his hands. Now that it was time to touch the subject, he was extremely nervous.

"Is everything all right? Adrien asked in concern. Nathanaël nodded somewhat quickly.

"Oh yeah, everything is fine, kinda. It's just... Ifiguredoutyouarechatnoirandmarinetteisladybug."

He blurted out, albeit somewhat quietly. He didn't need anyone to hear even if it was completely isolated.

Adrien stayed silent for a few minutes, as if trying to decode what he had just said. Then he realized what Nathanaël had said. 

"Wait what!" He said. Nathanaël avoided his gaze.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, and then I kinda just found out. You aren't mad are you?" He said nervously. Adrien was silent for a minute.

"I'm not mad." He said, pulling him into a hug. "I honestly didn't really care that much about secret identities. Obviously I'm not going to go shout to the world, but it's okay if you know."

"Really?"

"Yup," he said, ruffling his hair. Nathanaël let out a giggle. "You shouldn't mention anything to Marinette though. She's the one who is dead set on keeping her identity a secret. I had to find out on my own. She doesn't even know that I know." Adrien said. Nathanaël nodded.

"Got it," he said.

"So Nath."

"Huh?" He asked, leaning his head on his shoulder.

"Hey so I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

And so Adrien launched into his explanation about the whole dating thin while Nathanaël listened attentively. By the end of it all, Adrien looked extremely nervous.

"I'm willing to give it a try." He finally said. "It's risky but..." Adrien gave him a huge hug and he laughed.

"Thank you." He said.

"Your welcome" and he kissed his wonderful boyfriend.


	26. Reveal

Chat Noir leaped from building, jumping let freely to the meeting point. Today he had to to something important and nerve wracking. He had to tell Ladybug that he knew her identity and he had to somehow breach the topic of the whole dating issue. He sighed. Tonight was going to be a long night, he could already tell.

He finally reached the meeting point and realized he was early. He sighed and sat down to wait, all while trying to think up a way to start the conversation. He was so wrapped up in thought he didn't realize when Ladybug landed right next to him and leaped a few feet up in the air. Ladybug giggled.

"A little jumpy aren't we kitty?" She asked with a smile. Chat forced himself to relaxed and gave her a smile.

"You just startled me is all" he said, running a hand through his already messy hair. Get yourself together, he thought. He just couldn't mess things up right now. He was risking a lot of things right now. That included his friendship with both Marinette and Ladybug. He took a deep breath. Ladybug turned to him.

"Are you alright Chat?" She asked. Well here goes nothing, he thought.

"I know you're Marinette." He said and then waited. 

"What?" Ladybug asked.

"I know you're Marinette." He repeated. Ladybug's face was a myriad of emotions.

"W-what no, y-you have the wrong person, surely" she said nervously. Adrien let go of his transformation.

"A-Adrien!" She said, obviously surprised.

"Hey." He said. Step one was somewhat complete. Ladybug seemed to think a lot of it until finally, she let go of her transformation as well. Then they were both standing face to face. It was kind of awkward the first few seconds. They didn't know what to say to each other. 

"So..." Marinette finally spoke. "How did you find out?" She asked.

"Oh, it was when Nathanaël got that allergic reaction to cinnamon. He mentioned that you had seen him run the day of his accident and I remembered that Ladybug had told Chat Noir the same thing." He told her. "After that I just started paying more attention and realized it was really you." 

"To be honest I'm pretty sure I knew this was going to happen when we found out we both knew Nathanaël." She said as she sat down. Adrien followed and sat beside her. 

"Hey wait a minute!" She suddenly said. Adrien looked at her questioningly.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"That day with the Evillustrator! You knew it was me?!" Adrien was suddenly reminded of the comment he had made that day. He looked at her sheepishly.

"I mean, I had my suspicions..." He said trailing off. Marinette sent him a glare.

"Well that was unnecessarily mean!" She said.

"Sorry. It was. I guess I was a bit irritated at the moment and such." He said, apologizing. Marinette lightly punched him on the shoulder.

"Well don't do it again you stupid cat." She said, a smile adorning her face. She was really cute. 

"Uhm so about the whole identity thing" he said, suddenly remembering that he had something important to do.

"Yeah?" Marinette asked.

"Nathanaël kind off figured it out." He said. 

"What! How!" 

"Well he was drawing the other day and he said he figured it out because drawing Ladybug was exactly like drawing you, and after that he kind of pulled it out by logic. Then from that he found my identity." He said. Suddenly he had another thought.

"You don't think the nightmares will come back now that he knows our identities?" He asked. Marinette suddenly got a worried look on her face. 

"I hope not." She said. Then, "If he does we'll be there for him!" She said with determination. Adrien smiled. 

They sat there in silence for a while before Adrien decided to ask an important question.

"Hey Marinette. Do you like Nathanaël?"

___________

Marinette had been enjoying the silent night and the cool air next Adrien when he asked that question.

"Hey Marinette. Do you like Nathanaël?"

He means as a friend right?, she thought nervously.

"Of course!" She said. He's an amazing friend and everything" she said. She liked Nathanaël a lot more than she should.

"You know very well that's not what I'm asking, Mari." He said. Marinette got even more nervous. She had barely figured it out herself, how did he know?

"Uhm well no, I mean he's likable, that's not to say he isn't and he is cute and all but I don't, not that there's anything wrong with him because he's and amazing and kind person but-" she was completely red by now and Adrien looked very amused.

"So I'll take that as a yes" he said with a smirk. Marinette buried her face in her hands. Why. She just had to get a crush on another guy just to have him inaccessible as well. And dating her previous crush that she was not quite over. Did she really have good luck? She didn't think so.

"So I wanted to ask you something else." Adrien said, and she looked up.

"Yeah?" 

"Would you go out with me and Nathanaël?"

Wait what!

 

She was suddenly reminded of her conversation with Chloé and all her thoughts these past few days. Surely he wasn't asking this. He probably meant something else right? She tried to convince herself of this while trying to form a coherent answer. What does one answer when your crush offers to date you as well as your other crush?

"W-what?" She stuttered out.

"Well, I mean you know Nathanaël has always had a crush on you and I kinda really like you too. I mean if you're not comfortable or anything it's no problem, we'd understand but..."

Marinette thought for a few seconds. Then she took in a deep breath and answered him.

"I- I would like that but perhaps not right away. Perhaps a trial run?" She offered. She felt like she was going to faint. Adrien nodded. 

"That's fine. Well all go on a date together and see how it goes." He said, getting up. Marinette nodded. 

Hopefully this didn't blow up in her face.

_______________

Nathanaël was sitting nervously by the window, trying to solve his Rubik's cube when a black blue flew in. He saw the flash of Adrien letting go of his transformation and his blonde boyfriend was standing their.

"So what did she say?" Nathanaël asked.

"She kinda said yes" Adrien said.

"Kinda?"

"She agreed to a trial run of sorts. One date to see how it works out." He explained. Nathanaël nodded it was better than a no.

"Also I found out she really does like you." He said. Nathanaël had surprise etched all over his face.

"Seriously?" He asked. Adrien walked over to him and gave him a chaste kiss.

"Of course she would. Your adorable, who wouldn't like you?"

Nathanaël rolled his eyes and kissed his boyfriend back. Hopefully everything turned out okay.


	27. Date x3

Nathanaël stared at the ceiling nervously while lying back on his bed. It was five AM and he had not been able to go back to sleep after waking up. Today they were supposed to go on their trial date with Marinette. It was nerve wracking to think about it and all he could imagine was his first non-official date with Adrien. It had been a complete disaster and he didn't want that to happen this time.

He knew it was going to be difficult. While all three of them liked each other, it was going to be difficult to be able to date at first. It wasn't as if they all had experience with it, as a matter of fact, their love life had been pretty nonexistent for various reasons.

Even if he liked Marinette, she was still a very important friend to him before anything. He was honestly scared that if things didn't work out, things wouldn't be the same. That she wouldn't be his friend anymore. It was horrifying to think about.

He let out a sigh and shifted a bit in bed. Nathanaël knew that worrying about would only make him paranoid but he couldn't help it. He pulled his phone from under his pillow and sent a message to Adrien.

[Nathanael: Hey]

Adrien responded almost immediately.

[Adrien: Hey]

[Nathanël: That was fast. I didn't expect you up at this hour]

[Adrien: I'm up for the same reason as you. Nervous?]

[Nathanaël: Very.]

[Adrien: I'm pretty sure it'll all turn out all right. In the end we have each other right?]

[Nathanaël: You're right.]

[Adrien: Pawsitively! Now go to sleep you really can't function when you're half asleep.]

[Nathanaël: I'll try. Love you.]

[Adrien: Love you too.]

_________

When Nathanaël woke up again It was twelve in the afternoon. He rolled out of bed and got ready. His doubts and fears from earlier were still there but he tried not to worry to much. Paranoia wouldn't help him.

__________

Marinette had no idea what she was going to do. In about three hours she had a date with Adrien and Nathanaël and she was completely jittery and nervous.

By now she had come to the realization that she liked both the redhead artist and the blonde model and that had only caused her confusion and heartache. They were already dating each other and they were happy together. They were also he friends and she would never do anything to hurt them. No doubt she'd have to face Chloé's wrath of she hurt them, as well.

"You should calm down Marinette." Tikki said from besides her head. "Thinking to much about it will only make things worse. I'm pretty sure everything will be fine." She said. Marinette frowned.

"But what if it's not? What if I looses their friendship Tikki?"

"But Marinette, sometimes you have to take risks for something that you want. I know it's not going to be easy but if it works out, don't you think it'll be worth it? You should go out there and have fun today and stop thinking and worrying too much about it!"

Marinette nodded and smiled. 

"Thanks Tiki"

"You're welcome."

Now to get ready for her date.

_________

Adrien paced around nervously informs of the arcade. It was a different on than last time since it brought so many bad memories. Instead this one was brighter and more classy looking. It was bright instead of dark like the other one had and it was relatively clean. It also had a lot of advanced games and machines. He had also already bought the entrances beforehand so they wouldn't complain about the price.

The idea was that they'd hang out here for a while, go to lunch, then go catch a movie before just chilling out in the park. This time the park would be different since it was further away from where he and Marinette lived. It was actually closer to Nathanaël's home.

He let out a nervous sigh. He was scared that Marinette wouldn't show up and that this would somehow ruin their friendship and partner ship. It was terrifying to think about. He turned around and saw a familiar redhead walking his way.

"Hey Nath." He greeted his boyfriend. "You're early."

"And you're not?" He asked with a knowing smile. Adrien laughed sheepishly. 

"I guess I am."

They stood there and waited for Marinette who also arrived somewhat earlier. She looked adorable, having fixed up her hair a little differently and she was wearing a new outfit.

Her hair was done up in a bun with strands framing her face on either side and she was wearing a white short sleeve shirt, collared, with a pink vest over it. She was wearing khaki shorts and pink polka dot tights under them.

"Uhm hi." She said, waving nervously.

"Oh Uhm hey!" Nathanaël said once he stopped staring. Adrien repressed a small giggle. While it wasn't noticeable to many due to Nathanaël's Italian coloring, Adrien had learned to tell when he was blushing. It was adorable. Oh my god I'm on a date with two adorable people!, he thought. 

"So should we go in?" He suggested. 

"Sure" Marinette said. She looked extremely nervous. Adrien handed them their entrances and then liked an arm with Marinette and another with Nathanaël. He put on a goofy smile.

"Forward we may go then!" 

Nathanaël rolled his eyes and Marinette let out a smile. Linked in arms, they walked in, Adrien thankful for the air conditioning. Outside had been really warm and humid and he wondered how Nathanaël hadn't melted away in that outfit of his.

They started preying games and just generally having a good time. Until they noticed that Marinette had started to distance herself. They did their best include her in everything, but somehow she always managed to distance herself. He and Nathanaël shared a look before he spoke up.

"Hey lets go to lunch now, I'm pawsitively starving!" He said. He recieved a half amused half annoyed look from Marinette and a eye roll from Nathanaël. He grinned.

"Sure I'm pretty hungry myself. Nathanaël said. Marinette nodded and they left the arcade and started walking towards the little café where they would have lunch. Hopefully they would be able to figure out what was wrong before it was too late.

__________

Nathanaël sat in the table inside the little café. Usually they would sit outside but in this heat they decided to sit inside where there was air conditioning. They ordered their food and sat there to wait. Marinette seemed to be making herself small. Nathanaël glanced at Adrien who excused himself to go to the bathroom.

"Hey Marinette?" He asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah?" She asked.

"Are you not having fun?" He asked her.

"What no! I mean I'm having lots of fun and stuff." She said while smiling nervously. Nathanaël frowned. "Liar." He said. 

"What?" Marinette asked.

"I mean you've been avoiding us this whole time. This was our idea and if your not having fun and stuff... Well if you don't want to be here..." He trailed off.

"No no it's not that... It's just..."

"What is it?" He asked. The petit looked down nervously at her hands.

"When I look at you two, you guys are like this perfect couple, and you're all happy and everything. I feel like I'm disrupting things and getting in the way." She confessed. Nathanaël took her hand and smiled at her.

"You're not. I mean I've liked you since forever and Adrien really likes you a lot. We really want to give this a chance. If you don't feel comfortable, we won't push it but.."

"I-I can give it a try." Marinette said after a few minutes of silence. Nathanaël gave her a bright smile. "That's awesome!" He said.

The rest of the date seemed to go pretty smoothly. When they went to watch the movie they chose horror again. Embarrassingly enough they both clung to Marinette while she barely seemed fazed by the movie. It was a funny scene for any onlookers.

Eventually they left the movie theater only to stand outside, listening to thunder and looking straight up to the dark gray sky.  
They all looked at each other. This explained all the humidity that day.

"If we run, we might make it to the apartment before it starts raining, Nathanaël suggested. They all nodded and started running in its direction. Unfortunately they weren't able to beat the storm so when they arrived, they were somewhat wet. 

Once they got up to his floor they exited the elevator, Nathanaël knocked the door only to have it opened by a sleepy looking Leo.

"Heya." The blonde said with a yawn before letting them in. He was glad to know the house still wasn't completely messy.

He went and got some clothes for Marinette and Adrien to change into.

"Here" he said handing it to them. Then he directed them to the two bathrooms in the house before he left to change himself. Once he finished, he collapsed himself on the bed and smiled. Things had worked out for now.


	28. For as long as time allows it.

Nathanaël bit into his chocolate frosted donut as he, Marinette, and Adrien sat on his bedroom floor watching movies. Horror of course. He was loosely clinging to Adrien's arm as the watched some generic horror child being spooky.

Marinette, who still had her hair in that adorable bun and was wearing an oversized t-shirt of his with some shorts that for her, was looking at them in half amusement. 

"I don't get how you guys let this scare you." She said. "Chloé is a million times scarier when she's angry." Nathanaël agreed with that statement. Adrien shrugged.

"It's the jump scares and all the suspense." He justified. The blonde was clinging to both him and Marinette.

"Still, it seems like too much to me." She said. "I can't believe you guys seriously let this scare you."

 

"You think that's scared? Try watching Nath play Fnaf." Leo said as he opened the door, a tray of hot chocolate on him. Nathanaël hid his face behind a pillow.

"Shut up Leo!" He said. 

"Oh C'mom it was hilarious. You actually fell out of your hair and screamed worse than a little girl." Leo continued. Adrien gave a laugh to which Nathanaël responded with a pillow face. Marinette also seemed like she was about to laugh so he threw a pillow in her face too. Eventually it evolved into a pillow fight between the three. 

Nathanaël sat there on the ground laughing as he tried to catch his breath. Adrien was besides him and Marinette was on his other side. He was happy. It was like that day where he had been comforted by them. Just by being being next to them, he felt at ease. It was a nice feeling and he could say that he had never felt safer that with them both.

Outside the storm raged on and he heard a flash of thunder. Adrien jumped a few feet up in the air, causing him to let out a giggle.

"Aww don't tell me the kitty is afraid of thunder." Marinette teased and Nathanaël just laughed and patted the blonde's hair.

"I'm not!" Adrien insisted. Nathanaël just continued to pat his hair, scratching occasionally. In a matter of minutes the blonde was a purring mess on the floor. It was a fun thing he had discovered a while back before he even knew that Adrien was Chat Noir. Marinette seemed very amused by Adrien's antics. 

Eventually they settled back and continued watching the movie until it's end. With the terrible storm outside, it was decided that they wouldn't make the trip back home; it was too dangerous. Instead, Nathanaël just pulled out the extra pillows and blankets and they all squeezed in together on the Queen sized be. Marinette was in the middle with him on one side and Adrien on the other. Once they were comfortable they began to sleep. Only to be woken up later that night by Adrien's fitful sleep.

Marinette drowsily sat up and turned to look at him. Nathanaël shrugged. Adrien usually wasn't a very fitful sleeper and his face seemed contorted into a grimace. He was dreaming about something and it wasn't pleasant. Nathanaël got up and went to Adrien's side before sitting down on the edge of the bed. He gently shook Adrien's shoulder and woke him up. The blonde model bolted out of bed, eyes wide and scared.

"Adrien, is everything alright?" Marinette asked him. Adrien took a few minutes just sitting there and looking around before nodding.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you really?" Nathanaël asked. "You don't like like you're okay to me."

And he didn't. His eyes were wide with panic, his blonde hair messy, and his face was pale. He was having a bad dream. Nathanaël could hear his boyfriend's heart racing.

"Really, I'm fine." He continued to insist. He tried to go back to sleep. Not that Marinette let him. 

"Adrien Agreste! You are not going back to sleep without telling us what's wrong!" She said with a glare. Marinette wasn't someone to cross, that was for sure. In the end, Nathanaël knew that it was because she cared.

"I'm scared" he admitted. 

"Of what?" Nathanaël asked.

"I'm scared that I'll be left alone again." His eyes were watering by then. Nathanaël gripped Adrien's hand tightly as the boy explained.

"I'm scared you'll disappear like my mom did. That one day you'll both be here and the next you won't." Marinette's face softened.

"Oh you silly kitten." She said, pressing her lips to his forehead. "We won't disappear. We'll be with you for a long long time."

"She's right" Nathanaël said. "We'll always be here for you and we definitely won't disappear on you"

And it was true. They were in this together for as long as time would allow them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter! Yay! We're almost finished. I can't wait to finish and start a new story :)


	29. Of Life and Love

"You're no super hero! You're a super liar!" Ladybug said. Nathanaël and Adrien winced at the expression the new girl Lila put on. After the girl had run off, They turned to her.

"So Uhm..." Nathanaël said. "I think you might have gone a bit too far" he said. Adrien nodded. 

"She deserved it!" Ladybug said angrily. She was clinging all over Adrien and pushed Nath down the stairs!" She said. Nathanaël subconsciously rubbed the back of his head. That had hurt.

"Still, you didn't have to go that far" Adrien said. Ladybug huffed angrily and left. 

"You should go after her." Nathanaël pointed out. Adrien sighed. 

"I should. You'll be alright?" 

"Yeah. I actually have to go meet up with Chloé." He said. And so Adrien was off, to content their girlfriend. 

Nathanaël started to walk home, to drop of his school bag and head to Chloé's. A few months ago, Leo had decided it was time to move them closer to Paris. Now they lived in another fancy and spacious apartment complex. 

"I'm back" he said as he walked in though the door. Leo gave a nod from his spot on the couch and continued sketching furiously in his sketchbook. Nathanaël decided not to interrupt him. He went over to his room and dropped his school stuff down before heading over to meet Chloé.

"Nath! Over here!" She said, loudly waving him over to a table at a nearby cafe. Nathanaël quickly went and sat down.

"Hey Chlo what's up?" he asked as he took the hot chocolate she had already ordered for him.

"Ugh I can't stand that new girl Lila!" She ranted. "She's just so annoying!"

"Tell me about," Nathanaël said. "She pushed me down the stairs earlier." He recounted. She frowned.

"She what! I'm going to have daddy get her out of our class! I mean not only is she going around insisting that she's Ladybug's best friend, she actually pushed you down the stairs!"

Nathanaël shrugged. 

"If it's any consolation, a while ago Ladybug went to the park and called Lila a super liar. They're definitely not friends." He said and Chloé nodded.

"Of course they aren't. Ladybug would never sink so low." She said. Nathanaël had a feeling this was one of the few things Marinette and Chloé could agree on. The girls weren't best friends, and would probably never be, but they had both reached a mutual agreement and mostly stayed out of each other's way.

"Anyways," Chloé said. "Tomorrow is your six month anniversary! What are you guys doing?"

"Not much, we're just going out to eat and then just going up to the Eiffel." He said.

"Just that?" Chloé asked disapprovingly. Nathanaël smiled.

"Well Chloé it's just six months. Let's try to make it to the full year before we go all out" he said jokingly.

This past few months had been the happiest months of his life to be honest. Sure they had problems at times and often had figure things out as they were all new to this. There was also the somewhat awkward dinner at Adrien's house with his father and the somewhat more welcoming but still awkward dinner at Marinette's house. Oh and the very awkward dinner at his own house. 

Well it was a difficult six months but they had made it work and they were happier than ever.

____________

Adrien sent a silent plea to Chloé as Lila grabbed on to his arm, talking at a fast pace. There was no Marinette or Nathanaël to help him now so he needed to rely on Chloé. He hoped she didn't let him down.

"Excuse me Lila" she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Her eyes betrayed her anger and annoyance.

"What do you want?" Lila asked with an angry huff.

"Well it's just that you happen to be in the way!" She said. "Adrien has a date to get ready for and he certainly doesn't need to deal with you right now!" Chloé really didn't seem to like Lila.

"What!" Lila exclaimed. "Don't tell me you're dating her!" She said pointing at Chloé. Adrien was just about to deny that fact when another voice spoke up from behind them.

"Adrien? Really, cheating on me with my best friend? I'm disappointed." Came Nathanaël's voice, laced with amusement.

"Hey Nath." He greeted, giving him a kiss on the cheek like usual. "What's up." 

"Nothing much." He said. Then he turned to Lila with a murderous glare.

"You're dating him!?" She said, surprise all over her face. 

"Yes, I'm dating Nathanaël and Marinette as well. Do you have a problem with that?" He asked. Lila mumbled a string of incoherent words before stalking off. A few seconds later, Marinette arrived.

"Hey guys what's up?" She asked.

"Lila" they all muttered darkly.  
___________

Despite all earlier issues, they're date went perfectly. Right now they were sitting on the Eiffel Tower staring down at the city below them. It was a beautiful sight.

Nathanaël was leaning on Adrien's shoulder while Marinette was leaning on his. The were surrounded by comfortable silence. He looked over to his girlfriend and noticed a small frown on her face.

"Hey Mari," he said. "Don't tell me your still letting the whole Lila issue bother you?" He asked. He felt Adrien shift and look over.

"Kinda" she admitted. "She just really annoys me. Especially when she's so clingy with Adrien." Nathanaël sighed this.

"I hate it when she's clingy with Adrien" he muttered darkly. Adrien let out a laugh.

"Don't worry, my princess, my prince. I have eyes only for you two." He said and went to sit in the middle before wrapping his arms around them. Nathanaël and Marinette smiled at each other.

Sure they might have problems and things might try to get in the way, but in the end they had each other and they would be able to move forward. That was simply the way of Life and of Love.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally done. I had a really fun time writing this and I'm glad so many people liked it. I want to thank all of you for all of your feedback, it really means a lot to me. Thanks you so much.
> 
> I also wanted to let you know that I will be writing a new fic based around Chloé this time and it will be posted later today so if you guys want to go check it out, feel free to do so.
> 
> Again, thanks so much for reading this and following it to the end.
> 
> Lots of Love, LM

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading my first fic, I really appreciate it :3
> 
> I have other Miraculous Ladybug fics in the works if you want to check those out and here's my tumblr [fif-the-writer](http://fif-the-writer.tumblr.com/)
> 
> thank you all again :3


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